Rating: Summary: Beautifully Done Review: This story stayed with me for days - I even bought the CD as the music is so wonderful. Fabulous acting (Kate Blanchett is stellar), artistically directed - an all 'round FIVE STAR movie!
Rating: Summary: interesting Review: This was a movie about an Irish reporter who decides she wants to investigate the drug world after she sees young children in a local apartment building playing with dirty heroin needles. She sets out to get to the source of the problem, but as she gets closer and closer, her life and the lives of those around her become filled with danger. This film was based on a true story, so it was a great one to tell, however I did not feel sympathy for her. When the drug lords began to make death threats to her husband and children, instead of backing off, she pushed harder. I think that was selfish of her. Great movie, I just did not agree with it.
Rating: Summary: Powerful film, great acting Review: This was definitely one of the best films I've seen in 2003. Cate Blanchett was amazing, and the story was incredibly compelling. I give it four stars instead of five because I always prefer surprise endings - here you know what happens at the end when the story first starts. Great movie, though!
Rating: Summary: very moving Review: this was such a stong, powerful movie that i just sat there in awe. i couldnt belive what i had just watched. the acting was awesome, but the story...was shocking. at the end i thought about what i had just seen and cried. a women, put herself on the line for the greater good, and lost her life in prosses. Cate Blanchett was so great in this role, as she is in all of her roles, but this takes the cake.
Rating: Summary: When The Sky falls was better Review: True-life exploitation movie masquerading as a serious cinematic investigation into the life and death of Dublin journalist Guerin, Cate Blanchett, who was murdered in 1996 by the very drug pushers she was attempting to expose. In his attempt to sex-up the not entirely palatable facts of the life of a professional crusader, Joel Schumacher has overplayed the theatrics and turned what might have made a devastating movie la Silkwood into a hysterical TV movie-of-the-week. Blanchett is all scowl and cheekbones and, given the lack of background to her character, she does the best she can. Crudely scripted with jarring, in-your-face, shock-tactic visuals punctuated by a lamentably sentimental Irish music soundtrack, the film walks an unsteady line between outraged worthiness and Gotcha! sensationalism which doesn't even begin to explain why Guerin would risk not just herself but her family for her obsession.
Rating: Summary: Veronica Guerin Review: VERONICA GUERIN is a movie based on the true life story of Veronica Guerin, a journalist who was out to expose the drug lords in Dublin. Cate Blanchett is perfectly cast in this role, she researched it well and she plays it with sensitivity. The movie does not paint the title character as a perfect person, in fact you see a lot of the flaws in the character, but her motives are always apparant and drawn out well. She was a fearless woman in search of the truth at any cost, which ended up taking her life. Overall it was a nice documentary type movie, with enough excitement to keep you interested from start to finish. I thought the pacing was wonderful, and Joel Schumacher did a great job as director. The movie didn't do too well at the theatres, but give it a chance, it's a movie well worth it's length in time.
Rating: Summary: Women should watch this film! Review: Veronica Guerin was a very strong and dedicated woman. She was determined to do a job that made a difference. She was successful, too bad it was at such a high cost. Reviewers have been critical of her drive to expose the drug lords, saying she "put her family in danger." Would they have said the same things if she had been a man? I really liked seeing her interactions with the street characters, especially Colin Farrell. I am glad he did the cameo. I bet it will draw alot of veiwers in who would not of otherwise gone to see the movie. Maybe we could all look at people we see on the streets a little differenly. I thought the music was especially good. I bought the CD just for the 10 year old boys version of "Fields of Athenry", but I find I enjoy all the music. Joel Schumacher does a wonderful job yet again.
Rating: Summary: POWERFUL!! Review: Veronica Guerin, an Irish journalist and a woman of courage, was murdered in June 1996, at the age of 36, while conducting an investigative expose of drug lords in Dublin. Apparently Ms. Guerin's interrogatory tactics, investigative techniques and determination threatened her subjects more than the local police. She was shot dead at the wheel of her car by a hired killer on a motorcycle as a result of her persistence in discovering and writing the truth. Director Joel Schumacher's somber and factual bio-film portrays a woman who was determined to rid Dublin's streets of the pervasive drug dealing and heroin consumption so lethal to the city's youth. Ms. Guerin was repeatedly warned by her colleagues, underworld contacts and drug kingpins to back-off. She was shot in the leg and beaten in the line of duty. Her husband and young son were threatened and yet she persisted. Whether she was too reckless, too obsessed, is for the viewer to determine. However, her murder galvanized the Irish people to take to the streets and march against the criminal drug trade. Within a week of Ms. Guerin's death, during an emergency session of Parliament, the government passed a law to freeze the assets of suspected drug barons. The Irish Constitution was amended so that authorities could pursue drug-traffickers more aggressively. A Criminal Assets Bureau was created, as a result of her writing, (and her death), which has been aggressively confiscating money and property suspected of coming from criminal activities. Ireland's first witness protection program was formed to encourage informers to come forward. Her murderer was brought to trial, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Cate Blanchett's gritty performance as Veronica Guerin is outstanding and she is the backbone of the film. CiarĂ¡n Hinds, who plays informant John Traynor, does a superb job as he walks the line between the sympathetic informer with a tremendous ego, who is both Veronica's dubious ally and the vicious criminal who finally gives her up. Gerard McSorley excels as drug tzar John Gilligan. His presence is so terrifying and menacing that it's difficult to believe that Guerin did not back down immediately after listening to his graphic threats. I would have left the country after meeting him. Her relationships with other journalists, (those both friendly and critical of her work), the police, drug-dealers and their cohorts, prostitutes, and drug-addicts on the streets of Dublin provide some excellent entertainment and more insight into her feisty character. This film gives the viewer an exciting and thoughtful glimpse into politics and investigative journalism - just as "All The President's Men" did in the 1970s. Veronica Guerin is one of many reporters who gave their lives, and continue to do so, in pursuit of exposing injustices and crime in our society. This film commemorates the life and career of one woman but does serve to remind us of the many others who walk her path. A most powerful and highly recommended film. JANA
Rating: Summary: Don't waste your time Review: When I saw that Cate Blanchett and Colin Ferrel were co-starring in a movie chronicling the life of the Irish journalist/martyr Veronica Guerin, I was immediately excited. Excitement however quickly turned to disappointment.The story is flat. Even Blanchett couldn't save this script, which is saying a lot considering her talent. Ferrel is in the movie for a total of 45 seconds. There are many holes in the plot, making me think that the movie was originally an hour longer, and they took out random scenes in production. That's how jumpy and uncomfortable it felt to sit through this film. Blanchett is her usual good self, but this is a waste of her talent and your time.
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