Review of Truth (2015) by Leon B — 30 Sep 2016

Review:

This is an average political, newsroom drama, about a group of journalist, head by Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett), who think they have uncovered the true story about President Bush's military history. Whilst working for 60 minutes, Mary risks her career to get all of the information to air the story on the show, in 2004 but it all turns sour once the important people in the political world, hear about the story, before it gets aired. With Dan Rather (Robert Redford) heading the broadcast, Mary's story is soon shut down, and her journalistic tactics are questioned by the head of 60 minutes. I must admit, I was expecting more from the movie and I was hoping for deeper intensity, due to the subject matter. All of the actors put in top performances, especially Cate Blanchett who never disappoints but the pace is pretty slow and it seemed quite basic. It does make you think how the whole election would have turned out if the story was released, without any controversial interruptions but it was obvious that a story that big, wasn't going to plain sailing. The outcome proves that there is corruption in journalism and it's sad to see that innocent people got punished, for no reason. Anyway, from an entertainment point of view it isn't bad but I doubt that people would give it a second watch. Average!

Round-Up:

This is the first movie written and directed by James Vanderbilt but he did write Welcome to the Jungle, Basic, Zodiac, The Losers, The Amazing Spiderman 1 & 2, White House Down, Solace, and the new Independence Day, so he has had a lot of experience when it comes to large scale movies. As this movie was based on Mary Mapes, 2005 memoirs, Truth & Duty: The Press, the President, and the Privilege Of Power, he obviously wanted to stay close to her true story but it's always good to add a couple of twists to keep the audiences attention, which I didn't really feel. I never heard about this scandal when it happened in 2004, so it was good to see what was happening in the background during that period. Anyway, for his first movie, James didn't make a right mess of the project but he could have made the book more appealing for the big screen.

Budget: $9.6million.

Worldwide Gross: $5.4million.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their biography/dramas, starring Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Topher Grace, Dennis Quaid, Elisabeth Moss, Bruce Greenwood, Stacy Keach, Dermot Mulroney, John Benjamin Hickey and David Lyons. 4/10.