a bit of a disappointment

Rating: 5/10 (23 April 2000)

Because the subject of "The Insider" appealed to me, and because I like Michael Mann's work (Heat, Last of the Mohicans, Manhunter), I decided to go and see it, even though I felt slightly tired and I knew the running time was 2½ hours. Well, the start of the movie (let's say, the first half an hour)was quite good. And of course, Russell Crowe (who I loved in the Australian film 'Proof') and Al Pacino are good actors. But the film went on forever, everything was so elaborate it just became tedious and overdone; it just didn't manage to reach the point that the viewer became really 'captured' and involved in what was happening on-screen. The occasional witty remarks of good old Al Capone (as I like to call him as an hommage for all his gangsta' rolls) were a relief, but after some time even this became a bit of a bore. He tried too hard to be a clown, it seemed, and it didn't really fit in the basically serious story. It wasn't just as tedious as another Capone film, 'City Hall', which also dealt with corruption on high political levels, but it came quite close. 5 out of 10, I'm sorry, Mr. Mann. Incredible that the IMDB users voted an average of 8.4...But: "de gustibus non est disputandum".