At last, a truly adult movie made by adults for adults. It takes a stab at the tried & tested Washington conspiracy plot, here seen from the point of view of crack reporters (played by a fine cast including Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams), who refuse to accept the demise of newspaper reporting in favor of electronic media; it's a nice, fresh approach.

The focus is on Cal McAffrey (Crowe), an obscenely slovenly reporter for the Washington Globe whose devotion to truth in reporting is meticulously paramount in his life. He is thrust into a series of events - robbery, murders, adultery - that, at first, seem random, but gradually add up to ugly intrigues hitting at high levels of unsavory political action. He is abetted by his friendship with a Congressman on the rise (Affleck), joined in his search by an ambitious newcomer to the Globe (McAdams), while alternately goaded on and off the case by starchy Globe editor (Mirren). Sure, we've seen this kind of situation in earlier movies, but here the action dips swiftly into thrilling twists and turns with its stellar cast, meticulously directed by Kevin MacDonald, and inventively shot on normally unseen DC locations.
The script is based on a successful BBC miniseries, honed down by a team of writers (Tony Gilroy, Dmichael Carnahan, Billy Ray) to a tightly compact 142-minutes that fly by so rapidly you have to hang on with all your senses to follow both dialog and action. Gradually, it comes together as the tension increases and exposés pile up to a breathtaking resolution.

Despite the location shift to the USA, there remains a hint of the best of Masterpiece Theatre here in its elevated dramatic aim, its eye-catching photography - continuously and beautifully shot in available light, so well handled that even the hand-held action shots never distract - in Alex Heffes' music score that throbs appropriately but never dominates, and a sub-text that (especially in the impressive newspress montage tribute during final credits, to a dying profession). The mature approach highlights every suspenseful moment from start to finish without being exaggerated. Bergman it's not. Truffaut it's not. But as a taut thriller about a team of newspaper people dedicated to, in Cal's words "reveal the difference between the real news and bullshit," it rings the bell.