Review of The Insider (1999) by Stuart B — 28 May 2011

Watched this again for the first time in over ten years, and while it was a little longer than I remembered, it's still one of my favourite Michael Mann movies, with stunning performances from the cast (including what was my introduction to the awesome Russell Crowe) and a deeply involving plot which keeps you engrossed from start to finish.

It's interesting that it kind of switches genres half way through from being a whistleblowing thriller to a corporate drama, but both halves work very well, and with Mann's as usual eye for visuals it was fully immersive (though some of the jerky camera movements were a little annoying).

I love the line where Pacino comes to the defence of Crowe when Plummer asks, "who are these people", and he responds with a simple "they're ordinary people trying to deal with an extraordinary situation".

I think this was the heart of Crowe's character, he isn't portrayed as your usual hero, but more just a regular guy who got caught up in a big scandal, and how he deals with it as his life falls apart.

Intelligent and thrilling, hopefully it won't be another ten years until my next viewing...