[6]

Cate Blanchett stars as the real-life Irish journalist who paid the ultimate price for exposing the burgeoning drug problem in mid-90s Dublin. Outraged after discovering children playing in streets littered with used needles, Veronica Guerin decided to bring the epidemic into the national limelight, risking the life and safety of not only herself but her family as well. Blanchett, always reliable, does a great job portraying Guerin as a woman with a brave public face, even after a shot is fired into her home and a drug lord punches her repeatedly in the face for daring to step foot on his property (the film's most brutal and disturbing scene).

For his first film based on a true story, director Joel Schumacher (The Lost Boys, A Time to Kill) reigns in his stylistic sensibilities, though you still get a handful of scenes washed in deep reds and blues. He keeps the film moving at a brisk pace and avoids sensationalism until the end, when Guerin’s death scene is reprised and followed by clunky narration about the political aftermath. With a solo vocalist on the soundtrack and slow-mo reaction shots to everyone hearing of her death, the ending pours on a little too much cheese for my taste. But if Guerin’s murder really did inspire changes in the law that resulted in many drug lords going to prison and their assets being seized, as well as a 15% decrease in crime the following year, maybe the indulgence is warranted. With Brenda Fricker and Colin Farrell.