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Veronica Guerin [2003] (REGION 1) (NTSC)


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A moving and gripping film
Review date: 2008-11-04 Rating: 10 out of 10

I thought this was a brilliant film, very moving and non-sensational. The performance Cate Blanchett gives is outstanding, and the film tells the story of a brave journalist very well. I also thought it covered a lot of interesting issues and I would strongly recommend it.

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shocking, fascinating, moving...and true
Review date: 2007-11-26 Rating: 8 out of 10

The director who gave us the hugely controversial Falling Down is probably not the first name that you would think of when talking about a movie that deals with the murder of an Irish journalist by drug dealers in 1996. However, Joel Schumacher has given us a thoughtful, involving and ultimately very moving movie. Starting at the end (you will understand what I mean when you watch the movie) and then moving backwards two years in order to give us the run up to the event we have just witnessed, Veronica Guerin of the title is a committed and it has to be said bloody minded journalist working in Dublin, who decides to cover the cities out of control drug problem. Obsessive to the point of recklessness about getting the story, Veronica ultimately gets to close to the truth, and pays the ultimate price.
This is a deceptively simple story, given weight and depth by a great performance by Cate Blanchett as Veronica, a women who could easily have been portrayed as a saint, but in the hands of Blanchett comes across as a human being, flaws and all. That Veronica is blasé about her own safety is established very early on in the movie, but her tenaciousness and genuine desire to change things for the better is brought to the fore as Blanchett portrays Veronica as a reporter first, and unfortunately a wife and mother second. Clearly believing in the sanctity of the press (the old adage "don't shot the messenger" takes on a particular resonance in this film), Veronicas total disregard for her own safety (and by association that of her family) is vividly portrayed in several early scenes, and comes back to haunt her later in the movie in a shockingly violent scene. A supporting cast of familiar but not instantly recognizable faces (including Don Whycherley as Veronicas police contact, Brenda Fricker as Veronicas mother, and Ciaran Hinds as John Traynor, an underworld contact),add to the overall flavour of the movie without distracting you from Blanchetts magnetic central performance. However, it is Gerard McSorley (probably best known over here as Father Todd Unctuous in the Father Ted Christams special) as drugs baron and centre of Veronica's investigation John Gilligan who really catches your attention from the supporting cast. Portraying Gilligan as a man who wants to be respectable but is anything but (shades of Harold Shand in the Long Good Friday), McSorley delivers to the screen one of recent cinemas most memorable villains, making Gilligan a small and brutal man who is prepared to do anything to get what he wants.
Schumacher has delivered a sensitive but not blinkered telling of the Veronica Guerin story, not afraid to confront her faults head on, most notably how her journalistic instincts allowed her to become obsessed with a very dangerous world but never loosing sight of the fact that she was an unbelievably courageous woman who refused to be deterred and in the end changed her country for the better.


At its best
Review date: 2007-06-27 Rating: 10 out of 10

This is a hard hitting account of the true story behind the incredible women who tried to change Ireland for the better.
Cate Blanchett is at her best yet again, playing the title of the film 'Veronica Guerin ' an Irish journalist who becomes fixed about the drug trade and its affects on the community. She writes enless articles in the Sunday Times trying to put accross the point that the drug dealers are making millions per year and yet the government are doing nothing to stop them.
However it all comes at a price, and the title of the film gives it away because we all know what happened to her.

A true account and a very promising film. I always make a point of watching this film at least once a year.

One of the best Irish films
Review date: 2006-09-22 Rating: 10 out of 10

Im from Ireland and i remember this story very well. So when i heard that Joel Schmacher and Jerry Bruckheimer were doing this story the words 'oh no' came to mind. To be fair to Joel, he has done one or two decent movies like 'A time to kill' but whenever i see the name Jerry Bruckheimer as part of the credits of a movie i avoid that film BIG TIME. He is the quintisessential Hollywood Blockbuster man with a string of superficial macho flicks. Not someone you would instantly think of for this very respected and very Irish story. Hollywood doesn't do Irish story's very well.More often than not the Hollywood idea of Ireland can be extremely funny to watch. Also Cate Blanchett and Veronica Guerin are two people you would never put together in reality. Especially to look at. So why not an Irish Actress for the lead? Well this brilliant movie proved me wrong.I walked out of the cinema stunned at how well it turned out. Blanchett becomes Veronica and gets the best Irish accent i have ever heard any actor take on. Not just accent but exactly the way Veronica spoke. She also looks like she's from Dublin and very much capture's the way Veronica presented herself. I didn't think Cate Blanchett was the amazing actress she was made out to be until i saw this. Destiny put her in this part.Don't expect any watering down in this film. It's blunt in every way and hard hitting.Again a suprise.It by no means tries to paint Veronica as a saint because she wasn't. She was a human being who could be extremely selfish and reckless in her actions. Especially towards her son and mother and husband.You could ask yourself forever why she went so far but no one will ever know.I hate bullies with a passion and the way she would not be frightend by them i admired i have to say.But unfortunatly that bravery cost her her life.Amazing supporting cast with Gerard McSorley as John Gilligan and Ciaran Hinds as John Traynor.This is the kind of film you will either get or you wont.But i cant recommend it enough.Just one complaint.No extras,deleted scenes,making of etc were with the DVD.Would have loved to see how they put the film together as would most of us here in Ireland. One to watch.

Excellent
Review date: 2006-09-18 Rating: 8 out of 10

I was back in Ireland just a few weeks after the murder of Veronica Guerin and it was still reverberating around the country. It did have the advantage of taking people's attention away from the Nutty North and marching season and the annual confrontation of Drumcree. As one Irish newspaper put it (sort of), we have enough problems of our own down here without bothering about two lots of eejits who want to fight each other. With increasing prosperity, the Irish drug scene expanded dramatically and with it the arrival of vicious organised crime, with even the IRA, for all its lofty Republican rhetoric, getting involved.

Living abroad, I know little about Guerin's style (apart from the fact that it was brave bordering on irresponsibly reckless). Her editor seemed to let her get away with murder, possibly (one could cynically think) because all the controversy sold papers.

Judging the film on its own merits, I found it excellent. Cate Blanchett, a dinki di Aussie, does a great job with the accent and the acting of both Ms. Blanchett and the supporting cast, are generally first rate. It's been a long time since I've seen a villain as menacing and frightening as John Gilligan. But did the real Ms. Guerin really get around the seediest areas of Dublin in glamorous, beautifully-cut pants suits? That aside, the only disconnect comes when Ms. Blanchett shows total lack of fear in confronting gangsters and then turns into a terrified jelly when beaten up/shot. I would have expected a bit more fear in the confrontations rather than the extreme nonchalance evinced by Ms. Blanchett. Nevertheless, a very good film.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Cate Blanchett
Brenda Fricker
Colin Farrell
Ciarán Hinds
Gerard McSorley

Creators:
Cate Blanchett (Primary Contributor)
Colin Farrell (Primary Contributor)
Chad Oman (Producer)
Eli Richbourg (Producer)
James Flynn (Producer)
Jerry Bruckheimer (Producer)
Mike Stenson (Producer)
Carol Doyle (Writer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Walt Disney Video
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Video
EAN: 0786936226386
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, Colour, DVD-Video, NTSC,
Release date: 2004-03-16
Universal product code (UPC): 786936226386
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Region code: 1
Running time: 92 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2003-10-17
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)

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