The Americanization of a BBC miniseries qualifies as a ripped-from-the-headlines thriller, and from more than one type of headline: the political sex scandal, the privatization of the military, the death throes of newspapers. The topicality inevitably gives rise to some soapboxing, and along with it some playing on the pieties of the audience, though it is doubtful whether this either enhances or erodes the main business of generating thrills. Those are generated aplenty, even if, in the end, the plotting descends into mechanical trickery for its own sake. By then the discriminating moviegoer should be in a frame of mind to take what he has got. With Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn, Jeff Daniels, and Jason Bateman; directed by Kevin Macdonald. (2009) — Duncan Shepherd
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