State of Play by Matthew Michael Carnahan - 8 out of 10

State of Play by Matthew Michael Carnahan
8 out of 10


State of Play has a tremendous cast and a captivating screenplay, resulting in an entertaining, worthwhile motion picture.


Russell Crowe is the investigative journalist Cal McAffrey, Ben Affleck has the role of his friend, congressman Stephen Collins, Rachel McAdams is Della Frye, while Helen Mirren, Robin Wright, Jason Bateman and Jeff Daniels add so much substance and Value to the State of Play.
A young woman working for the congressman dies, in what is thought to be a suicide for some time and Cal McAffrey is looking into the story, communicating with his former college buddy, who says he thinks foul play is involved.

Indeed, other people connected with this investigation are eliminated, some of them because they happened to be at the wrong time, in the wrong place, as is the case with the pizza delivery man, who is severely wounded in the first place and then killed while recovering in intensive care.
As he follows the evidence, the journalist comes across the dangerous killer and barely escapes in a car park, only by climbing on a passing car, which crashes into the police unit called at the scene.

The congressman is very involved in a commission that has been looking into the allegations- turned with proof into demonstrated accusations - that were made regarding a defense company.
This private outfit had sent men to fight in Iraq and other places, where they had committed crimes, sometimes financial abuses and more seriously, they had killed innocent people.

Indeed, companies that send private armies to fight in wars have been found guilty and sentenced in real life, one was something to do with Black...not Blacksnake or Blackrock, something else.
Infuriated by the annoying congressman, the company from the film has tried to use all it can to block the inquest and after many months, Stephen Collins has become a bitter enemy of these defense contractors.

Talking to the media at one point, he accuses them of murdering those that stand in their way and states that he is alive just because of his position as public figure, who cannot disappear.
Apart from this political background, which is a criticism of the American involvement in Iraq and the mismanagement of the crisis there, we have the romantic, emotional angle.

The woman who had died and worked for the congressman had had an affair with him and he has to enlist his wife, Anne Collins aka Robin Wright, to show her support for him in front of the cameras, after this infidelity known to the public.
The situation is complicated further by the fact that Cal is infatuated with Anne Collins and there would be more complications to this story.

A spoiler alert might be needed here...

Dominic Foy aka Jason Bateman is a surprise in the investigation, for he tells Cal that he is the one who brought the late lover to the defense company, where she was hired and paid the exorbitant twenty six thousand dollars per month, which is about as much as the president makes and the head of the Federal Reserve.
The reason for this incredulous salary, especially for a very young woman without special qualifications or deep knowledge of hedge funds, was that the contractor wanted her to spy on The congressman.

Eventually though, the woman became genuinely attracted to the man and therefore refused to cooperate and give them anything, anymore.
Hence the increased, pressure and the assumption that they had killed her.

Only there is another twist to the story and that part will be kept unmentioned.
State of Play is a very good thriller.