Veronica Guerin (2003)

Wow, this is a REALLY bad movie!

To me, this movie is perfection.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Irish journalist Veronica Guerin, a reporter for The Sunday Independent, who exposed some of Dublin's most powerful crime barons and drug lords in 1996. But later that year she was gunned down by assasins hired by the same criminal drug lords she exposed. Veronica Guerin has Blanchett to a pretty decent perfomance unfortunately the story felt all over the place and the pacing dragged in alot. The film also was missing significant dramatic depth and came out as simply mediocre and the great cast was pretty much wasted by director Joel Schumacher. (2/10)

Veronica Guerin is a great movie with a very well developed plot and a really talented cast. It is a very engrossing film as it pulls us right in to the events of Veronica Guerin, a true story about a journalist from Ireland who made connections with drug cartels in order to publish stories about them. Her life is chronicled beautifully and in a suspenseful manner that has us caring for her and feeling a sense of constant unease as a result of the situation she is in. It does have many by the numbers elements to it, the story is certainly told in a very linear, predictable biography film fashion. Joel Schumacher, as brilliant as he is, does not necessarily take risks, and he tried his best to make this incredibly different story as suitable for Hollywood as possible, instead of telling it in a gritty fashion that would have made it far more enthralling. The cast is top notch, but the crown does, of course, go to Cate Blanchett as Guerin herself. She continues to amaze me with her versatility as an actress, this English woman fit in to a rural Ireland atmosphere effortlessly, bringing her to life in every moment with her breathtaking acting methods. Deeply inmerseful. Well acted and intense, I would recommend Veronica Guerin to anyone looking for a good drama. An Irish journalist becomes involved with drug cartel members in order to publish stories about their business.Best Performance: Cate Blanchett

A flawed motion picture, from Cate Blanchett's faulty Irish accent to the hideous screeching song played at the end of the flick (sung by a child??). I didn't find anything heroic about this woman, a journalist hell-bent on exposing the drug trade, all caution thrown to the hackneyed wind. She was a totally reckless person, witness her shameful list of speeding tickets, e.g. 108 mph, then a month later 104 mph, plus almost 1,200 parking tickets, no concern over the safety of other road users... additionally she took no precautions re her personal safety or that of her husband or even the safety of her little boy... she answered knocking on her door blithely, no peep hole, no safety chain. It was very easy to get the point that this person was on a mission, virtually a crusade, and she ended up paying the inevitable price, after chasing down the criminals and confronting them at their places of business and their homes, relentlessly, with no consideration of potential consequences, even after direct, overt, blood-curdling threats to her and her child from the criminals. Cinematography was well done, the story was simple to follow. How much of the movie was true and how much was "Hollywood" I do not know, but I found a few things impossible to understand, such as why a judge would let this woman off with a GB£100 fine when she was brought to court for her speeding and parking offences. The maximum speed limit in the UK and Ireland is 70 mph (on highways). Surely doing 108 one month and 104 the next should mean a long suspension of the offender's driving licence? Wouldn't her husband have been more concerned about her safety and their little son's? Wouldn't he have had some security devices installed in their home? WHY did she feel it necessary to flex her muscles by driving at highly excessive speeds continually? And at the same time using her cellphone (mobile phone)??? The graphic violence was convincingly well-done, but I would have liked some insight into her character and personality, ditto those of hubby's. Overall, an unsatisfactory film, far from a tribute to this "dedicated" journalist. Not recommended. #

In 1996 Dublin, hard charging reporter Veronica Guerin (Cate Blanchett) is attacked on the road. Two years earlier, she started writing about the rampaging spread of drugs in Ireland. Her main source of information is underworld character John Traynor (Ciarán Hinds). His boss John Gilligan (Gerard McSorley) isn't too happy that he keeps talking to the pretty journalist. She tries to balance her family life with her kids and the dangerous world of drugs in her work.The story is a little scattered and director Joel Schumacher is barely able to corral a coherent story. Luckily, this is more of a character study and Blanchett makes her a fascinating character. She has no off switch and supremely confident. Along with Hinds and McSorley, they save the movie from Schumacher's TV level work.