Rating: 
Summary: A superb thriller!
Review: "The Insider" starts out slowly, but with arresting gravity, and snakes its way into a riveting, superb thriller. The acting is magnificent, the direction superb, the pacing precise, and the dialog riveting. It's a long movie, but you can't stop watching it. Everyone involved should be congratulated, for this is the telling of a complex story on film that captures multiple layers, human pathos, and modern paranoia, all equally effectively. A MUST SEE!
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't really go inside
Review: Quick camera movements and hushed dialog heighten the claustrophobia and paranoia faced by Russel Crowe, the putative hero of "The Insider". A former scientist for a cigarette manufacturer. Crowe's Jeff Wigand is already an outsider in the first few frames, and on the verge of losing a severance package negotiated to keep him silent about the workings of his ex-employer's marketing tactics. Al Pacino, a producer for 60 Minutes proves, at about the same time, that he's not afraid to put his personal saftey on the line for the story. Christopher Plummer is a surpisingly effective Mike Wallace. Unfortunately, this account of the dirty tricks the cigarette makers will stoop to to hide business practices that ensure continued addiction to smoking is undone by its own murky paranoia - just how do these menacing guys manage to hold onto their political power the way nicotine holds onto smokers? Least convincing is speed with which the editorial staff at "60 Minutes" caves into corporate pressure to dump the story. It's never really explained how guys who regularly face-off against government bureaucrats, corporate honchos and the leaders of terrorist factions in the darkest corners of the new century crumble like a house of cards before big tobacco. The film, by never explaining the stranglehold of the cigarette industry implicitly supports them - that the "big" in big-tobacco is a myth created by the self-righteous of the media and government to explain their own inability to deal with America's nicotine problems.For all its murkiness, the film remains evocative, a collection of great scenes, like Crowe's epiphany in a hotel room, and Pacino's giving a hotel attendant long-distance instruction in the art of talking like Al Pacino. Remember this as the movie in which TV action fixture Wings Hauser played a lawyer for the tobacco industry.
Rating:
Summary: Gripping ethical study of doing the right thing
Review: Combining a human drama and a capitalist dilemma, The Insider is a tour de force in its display of the paradox between corporations keeping corporate "secrecy" and telling the truth. Russell Crowe and Al Pacino deliver powerful, unforgettable performances as a CBS news producer(Pacino) and a big tobacco whistle blower(Crowe). The story encompasses the personal descision made by former tobacco exectutive Jeffery Wigand who blows the whistle on his former tobacco employers at a high personal cost, while simoultaniously nakedly exposing the conflict in many news rooms between telling the truth and corporate interests. The Insider digs deep into media ethics, asks the question as to who really is in charge of what we as a public see and hear and makes one wonder if our beloved capitalist country has become a corporate "Frankenstein." This film is a hit anyway you cut it, and will have audiences,not to mention journalism students, debating the messages in this for years to come. Kudos to director Michael Mann and to an outstanding supporting performance by Christopher Plummer who delivers a PLUM of a performance as 60 minutes anchor Mike wallace.
Rating:
Summary: Intense
Review: Al Pacino's character says it best in one scene: "They're ordinary people under extraordinary pressure. What do you expect--grace and consistency?" A bit slow, but very rewarding.
Rating:
Summary: A Real Work of Art..
Review: An excellent Drama, well acted, intelligent film
Rating:
Summary: Perfect!
Review: A movie about a whistle blower in a giant tobacco firm and a producer from 60 Minutes?! Wake me up when it's over. I'm sure that's what you're thinking. I know its what I was thinking. But then I noticed that this was a Michael Mann film, and after "Heat", I'll follow him anywhere. I beleive myself to be a true fan of film. It excites me. I want to care about the characters and what happens to them. I want to be visually enticed by the beauty of its photography. I want to have a reaction to a snappy line of a dialogue. I have rarely been as satisfied as I was upon walking out of "The Insider." The words "high drama" sum it up perfectly. I was on the edge of my seat watching this film. Russel Crowe delivers a superb performance. His silence. His struggle. His furrowed brow. He was so subtle and so commanding at the same time. To say I cared about him is an understatement. In the year of "American Beauty" and "Being John Malkovich" you would say it would be a losing argument to say that Michael Mann deserved the oscar for best director, but I truly believe he deserved it. He creates a world all of its own. A world that I lived in without regrets for almost three hours. This film was masterfully helmed by Mann. He guides the flow of the action and the performances of the actors with such assuredness. He took the story of one nobody, one everyday man. He took his struggle and showed it to us. And most importantly, he made me care. I have seen this film (and I choose to use the word "film" as opposed to "movie" because it truly is a work of art) five times now. I will watch it again, either on my own or when I am showing it to a friend. This is a film that all should see.
Rating:
Summary: Simply a Great Film...
Review: The Insider is so engrossing that you forget that it's two and a half hours. Russell Crowe is the future of film, he gives an amazing performance as Jeff Wigant. Pacino gives another stellar performance and Michael Mann's direction is superb. This film is so intense you do not want to stop watching it, even for a minute. It is scary how much money big tobacco has and to what lengths the tobacco industries will go to keep inside information quiet. I find it unbelievable that this actually happened and even more unbelievable that CBS buckled to the pressure of big tobacco's threats. This is scary stuff, buy it, it is well worth your money.
Rating: 
Summary: So close, you have to see for yourself.
Review: It really is the perfect combo. Mann, director of thriller-of-the-decade 'Heat', along with giant Pacino and hot property Crowe. Add an excellent supporting cast (including Plummer), a true story with real drama, and atmospheric music, and you appear to have the ideal package. Except . . . except . . . it's too long. And I hate saying that, because I LIKE long movies, but there's just not enough drive in this to make it to the end without a push. Mann also seems confused about his lead - Crowe gives a superlative performance worthy of the camera's eye, yet at the end of the day it's Pacino who gets the closing shot. Crowe's character is cast aside. Is this a veiled comment on Pacino's character's attitude towards his charge? But Mann's accomplishment, in the end, is to create a masterwork which, as you watch, you forget is a film. All the characters and actors seem to be real, and you tune in so perfectly to the style and direction that any other film, watched after 'Insider', seems thin, cartoonish. Two-dimensional. That is Mann's unique gift, and you're missing out if you miss it.
Rating:
Summary: Long, but worth it
Review: "The Insider" to say the least is thought-provoking and a must see. To say the most, well I will try not to ramble. It focuses on the lives of Dr. Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe), vice president in charge of research for Brown & Williamson Tobacco, and Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), a veteran producer for "60 Minutes". As you might have guessed Lowell Bergman runs after the Ex-VP and tries to convince him to breach his confidentiality agreement and expose the truth about cigarettes. This is based on a true story and shows how far Brown & Williamson Tobacco went to try to keep him from talking, and how 60 Minutes were afraid to run with Dr. Wigand's story. Russell Crowe' acting was amazing, playing a withdrawn and anti-social man. Pacino did his usual job so no flaw there. Three hours may seen a bit long, but a very good movie that is worth watching.
Rating:
Summary: Al Pacino and Michael Mann strike back!
Review: The team from "Heat" (1995) strike back with an extraordinary piece that tackles on the issues of tobacco and the power of media. Important decisions are made, sometimes not too ethically, putting the whole issue of media objectivity and transparency in the spotlight. As for Mann, his shots, sometimes stressing due to their closeness and speed, sometimes soothing due to their slow motion, deliver the message loud and clear. Pacino's acting brings no new surprises: he's awesome once again! You'll recall in particular, when you see it, the scene where he delivers his lines to 60 Minutes's anchor, Mike Wallace, Don Hewitt (CBS Senior Exec. Producer) and CBS News president. He'll move you with his force and the passion he puts to accomplish his mission in the movie (which I don't want to spoil). Simply put: one of 1999's best movies.
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