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best movie i've ever seen.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

First of all I will explain why I have given this low budget, little known thriller such a high rating.The film is set in the mid 1980s. At the time in the United Kingdom we had what seemed like almost daily assaults on our civil liabilities.We had gone through a painful recession and unemployment was over 3 million people. There was Sectarianism in Northern Ireland leading to regular terrorist incidents, there had been curbs in trade union rights and dismantling of the industrial landscape.We had a Tory government that had a 'them and us' mentality, which was close to Ronald Reagan's USA and were keen to maintain US nuclear missiles in the UK.There were rumours that the security service and parts of the police were out of control and being used for cover ups, including destabilising supposed enemies of the state. We had gone through a year long miners strike where the media deliberately edited news footage to show striking miners to be aggressors when it was not true. So we had the the police, armed forces, media, security services all dancing to the tune of the government of the day.The film very much plays on this atmosphere and comes up with a taut thriller steeped in paranoia. Its very much of its time and very anti establishment.After an incident involving a nuclear bomber at an American Air Force base in England, Dennis Markham (Ian Bannen), a prominent politician and American nuclear bases is forced by the media to resign after a liaison with a woman who is also having a thing with an East European.The journalist who was involved in this scoop Nick Mullen (Gabriel Byrne) later suspects that Markham might have been framed and that he was being used. When his colleague Vernon Bayliss (Denholm Elliott) dies in mysterious circumstances suspects something more sinister and finds evidence of a cover up about the nuclear plane incident however government forces are out to stop him.This is a noirish conspiracy thriller with first rate acting from the cream of British character actors such as Ian Bannen, Denholm Elliott, Fulton Mackay. Greta Scacchi provides the glamour.Gabriel Byrne relishes the chance to play a hero and get to the truth. However the film has a twist up its sleeve. The establishment will not give in easily.

A top British politician is pictured leaving the house of a madam where a former KGB agent is seen entering shortly afterwards. The Star runs the story although Dennis Markham denies ever meeting the agent. Acting on an anonymous tip, journalist Nick Mullen exposes that Markham had lied and had indeed meet the agent years earlier. Markham is forced to resign and everyone congratulates Nick on a good story. Everyone expect veteran journalist Vernon, who seems to know more than he lets on. When Vernon dies the day after a mysterious break-in at his flat, Nick investigates Vernon's desk and finds himself delving into secrets that go deeper and higher than he first thinks.The problem with all the free dvds given out with newspapers these days is that the films tend to be somewhat tainted by your views on the paper giving them out. Take this for example. Someone gave it to me after they got it from the Daily Mail. Now, knowing that this film was what the Daily Hate thought its readers would like did somewhat put me off watching it for quite some time. However when I finally did get round to seeing it I found it a reasonably enjoyable thriller. The plot starts with a scene that doesn't make sense out of context (as it is then) before jumping forward to an innocent sex scandal that the tabloids lap up. From here it then builds the story well to the conclusion. None of it is rocket science but it does hold the interest for the duration even if the overall narrative arch didn't come as anything of a surprise to me (which perhaps says something about the level of mistrust and cynicism that we, society, take as the norm now when it comes to politicians). The delivery is generally good as it paces the build well but one big problem I had with the delivery was the terrible, terrible incidental music. No scene is complete without this cheesy "dum-dum-dum" music in the background and the hilarious "sudden" musical chords for very little reason. I know it is a little of the time, but it grates horribly now and it cheapens the delivery.The cast work well enough within the material although nobody really is given the tools to do a great job. Byrne is continually harried and stressed looking across the whole film and looks over his shoulder really convincingly. As such he fits the lead well but it is not a performance that he can be too proud of. Scacchi drifts round the edges but doesn't have much to do at all – I think her scene time was as short as her character was underdeveloped; meanwhile Elliott is as reliable as you would expect from him. The rest of the cast features people like Mackay, Coltrane, Bannen and other recognisable faces who all do what is required of them.Overall then a serviceable enough little thriller. Delivery and content have dated a bit and it is not the most gripping thing I've seen but the plot is easy to follow and makes for a well paced build-up if you are looking for a political thriller that doesn't ask a great deal from its audience.

Thoroughly intelligent and chilling conspiracy thriller set in Thatcher's Britain and based on the rumoured just averted nuclear disaster in East Anglia in the 1950s. Almost film noirish in quality, London at night has never seemed so threatening, complemented by a brilliantly edgy musical score.The characterisation and acting are first rate especially by the supporting cast of Ian Bannen Fulton Mackay, Bill Paterson, Robbie Coltrane and above all Denholm Elliot as a washed out alcoholic veteran reporter who is on the brink of uncovering a shocking conspiracy. The portrayal of an old style newspaper office is probably one of the most authentic ever seen in movies. Definitely a film to savour.

It seemed quite promising, but was hard to follow in places, not helped by one or two outdoor scenes not transforming well onto a TV screen. I'd recorded it, so on several occasions was able to rewind to have another go at understanding it. It might help if I was to watch the entire film again from start to finish, but I can't be bothered. As I understand it, a youth fleeing from the police clambers over a very nasty looking fence onto the runway of an American air base and gets killed by an aircraft that's landing with a nuclear bomb on board. This precipitates an emergency exodus from the base. Cue cover-up, investigated by local MP who gets set up, leading to investigation by reporter.Byrne does well as the reporter, but as is often the case Denholm Elliott impresses the most. Greta Scacchi is very bland.