State of Play: Excellent Tense Political Thriller

Image via Wikipedia

You wait around for a good political drama for absolutely ages, and then like proverbial buses, two come along at once! State of Play has an entirely different tone than it’s satirical counterpart, In The Loop, but both are excellent examples of intelligent political film-making.

State of Play, like In The Loop, is based on a BBC television production. It is a smart, briskly paced thriller which interweaves the story of jaded investigative reporter Cal McAffery (Russell Crowe) and his inexperienced but dogged protege Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) with that of statesman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck). When Stephen’s aide dies in a seemingly tragic accident, the decades old friendship between the two men is sorely tested as McAffery tries to defend his former college roommate while simultaneously exposing the biggest journalistic scoop of his career.

The fabulous cast take this intriguing tale of political scandal and heighten the tension to agonising levels. Mirren is as wonderful as ever as the hard-nosed newspaper editor trying to keep her failing publication afloat amidst corporate mergers and acquisitions and even in a small role Jeff Daniel still steals his scenes as slimy politician Senator George Fergus.

The intelligent script zips along, forcing the audience to pay attention at all times, and when you’re not unravelling the complicated weavings of the story, you’ll be on the edge of your seat as our intrepid reporting duo find themselves in increasingly dangerous situations as they creep ever closer to uncovering the truth, all against the backdrop of the conflict between antiquated print news deadlines and the modern  multi-media instantaneous communication world.

Films like this don’t come along too often, so don’t miss out…and if you need some light relief with a sharp satirical bite, check out In The Loop as well.