I just saw "The Insider". I was a bit
wary that it would be another "Heat", which was basically
a 3 hour episode of "Miami Vice"... which was basically
a very slick, very styley, but kind of shallow cops and robbers
vehicle for Don Johnson to wave a pistol and act intense. I wasn't
too crazy about watching another superficial jaunt with Al Pacino
acting intense for 3 hours. ("Hoo-ARRR!")
Fortunately, this movie was one small step forward for man, one giant leap for Mann-kind (sorry, couldn't help myself). Take the gunplay out of his screenplay, and he really starts to shine. There was a bit of that "Miami Vice" slickness, but there was also a realistic edge that was very intense and believable in spots.
Russel Crowe is what lured me into the theater, and rightly so. He was really superb as a dethroned tobacco VP whose tries hard to keep his composure as his life unravels and he's pitted against this goliath that is the industry. He steals the show. You really believe his head is in a vice. Definitely Oscar material. (Or should I say passed-over-for-Oscar material?)
"The Insider" was really good, but not perfect. Near the end, it zeroes in more on Pacino's character and his extraordinary phony abilities. His last-ditch journalistic gymnastics are dramatic and extreme... and a bit contrived, perhaps? This is obviously the part they dramatized.
And I wish they hadn't because it hijacks what could have been a really really great movie, and relegates it to mere goodness. It makes you wonder what else in the storyline has been beefed up, shifted over or left out for the sake of slickness (there's that word, again) and drama. And that is a pity because the original true story is pretty damn relevant.
The movie was good. Russel Crowe was great. I'm looking forward to Miachel Mann's next project.
Best film of the year? Uh... no, but it was a fun, exciting ride. Didn't feel like 3 hours.