Overview
A reporter becomes the target of a vicious smear campaign that drives him to the point of suicide after he exposes the CIA's role in arming Contra rebels in Nicaragua and importing cocaine into California. Based on the true story of journalist Gary Webb.
I always felt Jeremy Renner to be a B-list actor who got lucky. The Hurt Locker was great, but I thought that was more down to the script and photography than Renner’s acting; Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters was just a fun watch but too silly to remember, his role in The Avengers is fairly irrelevant, and The Bourne Legacy was just a disappointing movie all around.
But here he carries the movie, with ease. It tells the true story of a reporter who brings to light the role of the CIA in Nicaragua and in importing drugs into the US, endangering himself and his family in doing so.
The rest of the cast is solid too, and the realistic style gives a glimpse of insight into the risks of investigative journalism. It is certainly a movie worth seeing, even if it doesn’t quite get to the level it should have – somehow you still are left an observer and the movie fails to get you angry with what really is a fairly outrageous piece of CIA history…
