“Who would want to kill Veronica Guerin?” That’s the question the poster asks regarding this film based on the true story of Irish investigative journalist Veronica Guerin. She was exposing Dublin’s drug underworld in the mid-1990s, and was killed for her work. Jerry Bruckheimer, in an attempt to branch out into something not-quite-action-heavy, produced this Joel Schumacher film which stars Cate Blanchet in the title role.
Veronica Guerin is a rather small intimate film. It feebly attempts to examine the motivations that Guerin had while pursuing her story, but never quite challenges why she put her life above her family. Sure, it’s all for a greater good, and ultimately her tragic death led to reform in the law that allowed suspected drug dealers to be dealt with more harshly. But the film never quite gives us a reason for why she did it – we never really see what she saw through her eyes. That aside, the story flowed nicely, Harry Gregson-Williams’ Irish-themed score worked very well, and the acting was quite good.
It is nice to see films that rely more on stories and characters than explosions and visual effects being made in the Hollywood system. And when someone like Jerry Bruckheimer can produce such a film, there’s hope for the industry yet.