A striking movie about actual events with a stellar cast. To name the starring ones: We have Michael Keaton, Mark Rufallo, Rachel McAdams, Stanley Tucci, Liev Schreiber, Brian D'arcy James, John Slattery, Billy Crudup. Now, to get all that talent together have definitely paid off. There no action, no horror, nearly no tense moments or jump-scares etc. which are mostly what highly anticipated and attention grabbing movies are today. Lets stop and think about it for a moment, we know Keaton as Batman, Ruffallo as the Hulk, McAdams as Irene Adler, Tucci as Ceasar Flickerman, Schreiber as Sabertooth, Slattery as Howard Stark, Crudup as Dr. Manhattan (along with many more of course but I'll come to my point in a while, please be patient).
In other words, we know most of the main actors in this movie as superheroes or fictional characters. But when we see them in this, now that is what makes them among the great, not just high grossing action movies. But this is a thought to be elaborated further in another day.
The story of the movie is about a group of reporters finding a lear and following it down the rabbit hole. Yes it is an unprecedented story, but we are not here to talk about the story, we are here to talk about the movie. I shall start with Schreiber. He was not the lead in the movie but he was maybe the most stringing character for me because the cold, calculating, multitasking portrayal by Liev Schreiber was amazing. Each move of his body and hand, each sentence calmly and slowly utters was consistent throughout the movie. Keaton and McAdams were perfect for their part. Their characters were a little bit straightforward maybe, but maybe that's what Walter Robinson and Sacha Pfeiffer in real life, I don't know. Ruffalo was great as an active and even hyper-active Mike Rezendes. Tucci, angry, calm even joyful at times, was all in character throughout the movie. You never feel anything forced about his acting, he makes you believe Garabedian was changing his attitude when and if needed. D'arcy James was also perfect, a little bit nervous at times and he lets you feel his nervousness. A specific scene about d'arcy James' character Caroll was perfect actually. The scene reminds you how the parents feel, how protective they are, it was really nice and I am glad it made the final cut.
The movie and thus the actual story takes place during 2001 and early 2002, thus the first thing that came to my mind when I realized the timeline was 9/11. I was curious how it will be told and what its extent would be. Actually I was quite happy about the outcome. No extensive storyline, never overshadowing the main plot. Only a short scene showing the 9/11 has happened/happening and the Cardinal's speech after the event which is "not bad" as Slattery's character Bradlee Jr. mentions as well. A very well thought and written section actually.
Regarding the plot and flow of the movie; it was almost a two hour perfect run except the slight misdirection (maybe) attempt about a plot point regarding the past (no spoilers, so you will find out when you watch the movie). It makes you try to find maybe a culprit actually, which made think "was it necessary", but it pay-off (a little) in the end. Gene Amoroso's character Steve Kurkjian was highly interesting during the first half, but completely left out after about 1 hour mark, so that was an interesting choice and bothered me a little.
To wrap up, Spotlight was an almost perfect movie with definitely perfect acting.
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