Veronica Guerin
by Joel Schumacher
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Brenda Fricker, Cate Blanchett, Ciarán Hinds, Colin Farrell, Gerard McSorleyDirector: Joel Schumacher
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
Producer: Chad Oman
Producer: Eli Richbourg
Producer: James Flynn
Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer
Producer: Mike Stenson
Writer: Carol Doyle
Writer: Mary Agnes Donoghue
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Anamorphic, Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 92 minutes
Published: 2004-03-01
DVD Release Date: 2004-03-16
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Movie Reviews of Veronica Guerin
Movie Review: A Gripping tribute to a Fallen Martyr
Summary: 5 Stars
If I did not know better before going to see Veronica Guerin, I would have been excused to guess that it was directed by a politically and socially sensitive European director like Ken Loach or Jim Sheridan.I was quite surprised therefore to know that Joel Schumacher and producer Jerry Bruckheimer were behind such a masterpiece of realism and grittiness,a powerful tribute to that rare breed of humans who will do right by their conscience and are never intimidated even if that means paying the ultimate price. Veronica Guerin,the Irish celebrated investigative journalist was such a person.
The growing unchecked drugs situation that has plagued Ireland, and the tragic scenes she witnessed of young lives lost and the blatant exploitation by gangs, drove her relentlessly to expose the men behind it all.
She meddled as a result with a very sinister and dark world the public at large was seldom aware of, and she paid a very hefty price for her unwanted intrusion.
Yet her death which shocked the nation was certainly not in vain, for it pushed the government and the public to act swiftly for the first time against the drug dealers.It is only a pity that throughout history generally brave people had to sacrifice their lives for any change to occur.
This is the story of the real Veronica Guerin and the film that faithfully tells her story.
The success of the film does not solely rely on how touching, tragic and real the story of Veronica Guerin is and her lasting impact, but also on Schumacher's fine direction,by far his best film since Falling Down: totally sympathetic with his subject yet managing to his credit to avoid the trap of sentimentality such a film would easily fall into.
Credit should also go to producer Bruckheimer,who is a rare breed of his kind ,equally concerned with the artistic quality of his picture as well as numbers and balance sheets.
Veronica Guerin's success also is due to superb acting, especially Gerard McSorley and the wonderful Ciaran Hinds who has such a imposing and charismatic presence on screen..and of course there is Cate Blanchett.
No one could have played the Irish fallen heroine better than her. Her performance is simply awesome, well researched and faithful.I don't know what it is with Aussie actresses and accents..why it is that they always perfect whatever accent they are talking with..From Nicole Kidman, Toni Colette, Naomi Watts, Judy Davis, and Ms Blanchett, who in Veronica Guerin speaks in a flawless Irish tongue.
There are some very powerful scenes in the film that will totally captivate you, especially the confrontation between Blanchett and the mob boss McSorley..it is sudden,shocking,and brutal, one you will not easily forget!
The DVD extras are interesting as there is footage of the real Ms Guerin speaking about the problem of drugs, the threat she received and her pledge never to stop her personal crusade which is as touching to see as the film itself.
Veronica Guerin is a must see film, one that you engage you and stay with you long after you watch it.It is a must buy, a very small and symbolic personal tribute from the viewer to one of those who dared to speak out.
Summary of Veronica Guerin
VERONICA GUERIN - DVD MovieIreland's most beloved and tragic contemporary hero/martyr gets the Hollywood treatment in the fact-based thriller Veronica Guerin, an average film made recommendable for a fine performance by Cate Blanchett in the title role. The life, work, and assassination of the slain Irish journalist is respectfully chronicled in this gritty, streetwise biopic by director Joel Schumacher, beginning with her 1996 murder (by Irish gangsters) and flashing back to her diligent efforts, begun in 1994, to expose the drug trade that plagued Ireland for most of the decade. Blanchett is flawless in a role that combines passion, courage, and recklessness in a way that doesn't sugar-coat Guerin's character or imbue her with artificial heroics. Unfortunately, Schumacher (who makes room for an unbilled Colin Farrell cameo) and a naggingly unsophisticated screenplay turn Guerin's complex story into a conventionally accessible thriller that sometimes seems too good to be true, which is ironic given that Guerin's story was fictionalized in the marginally better 2000 film When the Sky Falls, starring Joan Allen. Recommendable for Blanchett's performance and two memorably villainous roles for Ciarán Hinds and Gerald McSorley, Veronica Guerin is an adequate tribute that could and should have been exceptional. --Jeff Shannon
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