Producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joel Schumacher take on the real-life story of an assassinated Irish journalist in the dramatic thriller Veronica Guerin. Cate Blanchett appears as the title character, a relentless crime reporter for The Sunday Independent during the early '90s. Guerin's violent murder in 1996 led to a revision of Ireland's laws and the creation of the Criminal Assets Bureau. The movie picks up with her pursuit of the underground drug trade in Dublin, which she suspects
is led by mobster Martin "The General" Cahill (Gerry O'Brien). When Cahill's gang is attacked, she suspects mobster Gerry "The Monk" Hutch (Alan Devine) is responsible. Not deterred by threats or gunshot wounds, she uses thug John Traynor (Ciarán Hinds) as an informer to help out her investigation of psychotic mobster John Gilligan (Gerard McSorley). Schumacher's protégé Colin Farell appears in a small role. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
While I was watching Veronica Guerin, starring Cate Blanchett, I kept imagining the movie it might have been before director Joel Schumacher and producer Jerry Bruckheimer got their hands on it.
You don't need subtlety for a movie like this -- which is fortunate considering that Schumacher is the director -- but you need a kind of craft that Schumacher doesn't possess.
Cate Blanchett gives a tour de force performance as Veronica Guerin under Joel Schumacher's direction of a no-nonsense script by Carol Doyle and Mary Agnes Donoghue.
Wrapping up the disc is an interesting comparison: Cate Blanchett playing Veronica Guerin speaking at a meeting, and then the real Veronica Guerin speaking to that meeting.
While this is a movie that deserves a mildly favourable recommendation, it's also nothing short of a catastrophic fumble and an incredible lost opportunity.
Blanchett gets the accent impeccably, and encompasses both the woman's determined heroism and her delight in the picture byline, but neither she nor the screenplay digs any deeper than secular hagiography.
Aside from the state of Dublin that is shown at the begining of this film, there were no real surprises here for me.
Though a bit predictable at times, it is still a good film.
As sad as it is to say, it is people like Veronica Guerin (who do the right thing to spite the risks involved) that keep us progressing as
a society.
Their stories must be told to remind us that unless we fight for what is right, we will remain bogged down in everything that is wrong.
I consider myself a huge Cate Blanchett fan, but I have to say her "Irish" accent here was a bit dodgy at times, but the performance was otherwise a very powerful one.
No quotes approved yet for Veronica Guerin. Logged in users can submit quotes.
Submit a Quote from 'Veronica Guerin'
A quote can be a single line from one character or a memorable dialog between several characters. Please make your quotes accurate. Quotes will be submitted for approval by the RT staff.
Example:
Luke: Alright. I'll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
Top Critic
