Review of Spotlight (2015) by Ben T — 02 Jun 2016

Spotlight is based off the true story of the Boston Globe reporters who between 2001 and 2002 revealed to the public the covered up truth that the Catholic priests were molesting vulnerable children from broken homes.

Spotlight has to tackle a very upsetting and shocking story and with a great cast and director Spotlight was set to be a great film. After wining the best picture Oscar this year I was very excited for Spotlight which can sometimes be a problem however Spotlight is a very good film.

Spotlight has lots of positives, one of the biggest is the absolutely fantastic cast. With a cast of Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Stanley Tucci, Brian d'Arcy James, John Slattery and Liev Schreiber.

Everyone is great, especially Keaton, Ruffalo, McAdams and d'Arcy James. All of them are brilliant and I was especially happy Keaton was in another great film and Birdman wasn't just a one hit wonder.

This film is directed by Tom McCarthy who does a good job at presenting this story to us. This film's direction isn't very flashy as Spotlight does feel like a TV movie, but McCarthy does a good job.

Tom McCarthy also wrote this film and he does a very good job as Spotlight is constantly interesting and is also very shocking. The most dramatic moments of this film are when we learn about what has happened to some of the victims of the sexual abuse and while we don't actually see any molestation Spotlight is still a difficult film to watch due to the unflinching realism.

Whenever our leads here a disturbing story there is no big reaction our outburst it's horrified silence which makes the film feel much more realistic. The ending of this film is also incredibly powerful and the ending shot is very haunting.

While Spotlight is a great and very well made film there are problems which hold it back from being truly fantastic. I mentioned earlier that this film feels very TV movie, so the style takes a while to get in to.

The cinematography is a bit unremarkable as while there are some great moments it's nothing amazing. Also in the first half of the film whenever there's a scene transition there's a four bar piece of music that plays and it gets extremely repetitive.

However Spotlight is a very good film and a truly shocking film. While it has problems it's still really good and I'm happy I watched it. A-.