Few filmmakers can take a whistle-blowing dramatization of real life potentially dusty legal shenanigans and news gathering and make it so chest convulsively taut the blood in your ears pounds, but then again not many directors are of Michael Mann’s calibre (an honourable mention to Tony Gilroy’s fictional corporate legal thriller, Michael Clayton). Mann utilises the power of Russell Crowe as research scientist Jeffrey Wigand and an intelligent screenplay by Eric Roth to turn this real-life hunko-drama into a film you can almost feel.
After being fired by Brown & Williamson, the tobacco industry insider Wigand holds information that could utterly devastate the corporation. As he faces pressure from all sides, including his family’s medicare bills, bitterness and anger force him to speak out, even though it means risking lawsuits, losing his reputation and possibly even jail time. Wigand enlists the help of 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino) who arranges an interview with him, but before it can air CBS executives get cold feet and censor the segment.
Mann delivers a riveting drama that does away with car chases and sleazy sex scenes to focus on the moral dilemma faced by a man against the system. Crowe and Pacino are both on fire here, with performances that range from explosive passion to brooding introspection. This is not only a film about muckraking but also a timely and important study of corporate greed and the nature of loyalty.