Product: The Insider [VHS] (1999)
Rating: 4.0
Performances, direction, atmosphere, a must!
Okay, just too let you know ahead of time, this is NOT a sterotypical summer blockbuster. Nothing blows up, CGI monsters do not threaten the planet, Al Pacino doesn't get to kill anybody, and there's no Will Smith song in the credits.There, now that's out of the way, THIS IS A GREAT MOVIE. Al Pacino gives a more restrained and disciplined performance than we've seen in other recent displays, and it's stunning. Russel Crowe gives the best performance of his career and possibly the best performance of the year. Michael Mann's direction is, as always, slick, atmospheric, and never condescending. He doesn't cater to the audience by spelling out every little detail, he forces you to make some of the judgements for yourself that a lesser director may have turned messy in their explanation.The plot is complex and always twisting, but never tedious (unless of course your LOOKING for the afore mentioned "blockbuster traits"). It involves Crowe as a tobacco corporation health researcher who is fired after refusing to take part in the controversial cover-up and exploitaton of a new cigarette drug additive that would boost sales but endanger lives. When his former employers begin delivering alomst mob-esque threats, Crowe gives his story, and a tell-all interview, to Lowell Bergman (Pacino) of 60 Minutes, only for both of them to find that if they air these facts, CBS could face a billion-dollar lawsuit from the tobacco corps through a loophole in Crowe's Confidentiality Contract.I don't do such a great job of explaining really, so check it out! Just take my word for it, great movie!