CIA scandal that got lost amid our obsession with Monica Lewinsky: Kill the Messenger is reminiscent of All The President’s Men, writes BRIAN VINER
Kill The Messenger (15) - Verdict: Decent political thriller
A powerful political thriller in many ways reminiscent of All The President’s Men, Alan J. Pakula’s 1976 film about the Watergate conspiracy, Kill The Messenger tells the true story of a dogged investigative reporter for an unfashionable Californian newspaper, who uncovered what he called a ‘dark alliance’ between the CIA, Nicaraguan rebels and cocaine traffickers.
It was in 1995 that Gary Webb, of the San Jose Mercury News (splendidly played by Jeremy Renner), received a phone call from a woman claiming to have evidence that a drugs baron was on the CIA payroll.
'Powerful': Jeremy Renner plays Gary Webb, reporter at the San Jose Mercury News, in Kill The Messenger
Webb duly discovered that during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, vast profits from selling crack cocaine, mainly in South Central Los Angeles, had been piped back to Nicaragua to support the U.S.-backed Contras.
It was a huge story, and yet it broke around the time that the media were more interested in Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky’s dress.
Michael Cuesta’s film is itself just as interested in the efforts by the government and even other newspapers to discredit Webb, who paid a high personal price for his journalistic triumphs.
It’s no surprise to find that Cuesta has also directed episodes of the superb TV drama Homeland; he knows how to escalate tension, and also how to fold his protagonist’s domestic dramas into the story.
Rosemarie DeWitt is terrific as Webb’s long-suffering wife, and part of a top-notch supporting cast also including Michael Sheen, Ray Liotta, Andy Garcia and Paz Vega.
Stephen Graham plays David Knight in Hyena
Hyena (18) - Verdict: Grisly crime thriller
Hyena is a thriller, too, but much, much grislier. It is set in a West London netherworld of irredeemably venal policemen and horrible Albanian gangsters, and contains images of violence and rape that could scarcely be more disturbing.
The closest thing to a hero is undercover police officer Michael Logan (the excellent Peter Ferdinando), but since he’s also coke-addicted and deeply corrupt, you’ll get an idea of what everyone else in the film is like.
Logan’s concern for a woman sold into sex slavery is what amounts to the picture’s moral core.
Nonetheless, writer-director Gerard Johnson has a good eye and ear for sleaze and depravity, and I really do mean that as a compliment.
- Lightning struck Jim Beam factory leak causes 'firenado'
- Irate customer at kebab shop melts down over order
- Rough justice: Street robber caught by victim and choked
- The moment Trump security guard hits protester in face
- College student drives pink Barbie Jeep after DWI charge
- Moment aggressive driver SLAMS instructor's elbow in door
- Jarryd Hayne shoulder charges defender in final preseason...
- Tyler Perry's touching tribute video for Bobbi Kristina
- 'Move your lazy butt!': Stroppy cat whines like a child
- Tragic moment policeman recovers the body of Aylan Kurdi
- Distraught father of drown migrant family collapses in tears
- Security video shows worker touching fliers' genitals
- Hillary fumes at Trump for attacking her closest aide Huma...
- Is El Chapo hiding in Costa Rica? Net closes on the world's...
- Firenado! 800,000 gallons of Jim Beam accidentally released...
- Second mistress of Josh Duggar claims she suffered a...
- EXCLUSIVE: New York 2015 - FOUR THOUSAND sleeping on the...
- Just desserts! Woman throws a tantrum in take-away...
- Angelina McJolie! Star has Scottish lookalike who has turned...
- Assault at Trump Tower: Tycoon's security guard steals...
- Why did Chrissie Hynde date one of the Hells Angels who...
- Revealed: How the five wealthiest Gulf Nations have so far...
- Migrants march into the night: Germany and Austria announce...
- Police hunt gunman who shot dead glamorous pediatric...