The Insider

Loved it. Genuine acting masterclass from all the heavyweights involved. One of the best, thrilling dramas I’ve seen with very little physical or fateful jeopardy for the characters involved, but the tension created through the music and some of the astoundingly good early scenes where Wingard is being methodically stalked by big tobacco execs and associates.  The script is top tier, and Al Pacino isn’t even the best shouty man in this as Christopher Plummer and Bruce McGill shout way better and way louder! Pacino though is excellent once again, his game when he’s hot is better than anyone (almost, think Plummer gives him a run for his money here) and Crowe has caught a lot of flack in some of the reviews here but I liked him! Doesn’t drown on screen with Pacino out aura-ing him which is a vote of confidence for any actor. Also enjoyed Gambon’s brief role (and his accent!) Something I really liked is how the film is bookended by comparatively way way bigger stories by CBS, I mean Pacino blindfolded in the Middle East speaking too Hezbollah and the fucking Unabomber but somehow I’m glad the film is about tobacco and some whistleblower and the various lawyers and new producers he crosses path with. It’s far more interesting seeing a man’s life fall literally to pieces to the point where every scene he’s in after the deposition he’s on suicide watch. And Pacino’s character, they do a good job of making his integrity feel real, it feels genuine. In most films I have a hard time buying the main characters distraught nature after losing some rag and tag teammate they just met (a recent gripe I had with the untouchables) but Pacino being inconsolable and irate that his story and Crowe are getting hung out to dry feels earned. Yes it’s very much most parts selfish that sources won’t trust him now but you can feel how much the professional stakes are tearing him apart.  Fantastic, tense, thrilling, supremely acted and a plot which has no right working as well as it does. Would be the perfect film if they gave any woman in it any depth (Debbie could have been very cool if she wasn’t just a person Pacino knew that does… something? Calls people? Reads stuff? I’m not sure but the actress was good and should have had more substance) 10/10, close to perfection and yes, it’s better than Heat.