The Insider | | Cast : | Al Pacino, Russell Crowe | | Director : | Michael Mann | | Studio : | Walt Disney Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | November 05, 1999 | | DVD Released Date : | June 01, 2004 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), English (Original Language) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | June 01, 2005 | | Summary | My review 'Re-Issued' | Content
 | Okay, so I'm trying to be helpful here, and I guess my origional review was not. I can't help it that to me this movie is just a Russell Crowe showcase, but I guess I should elaborate a little better.
This is my origional review for all of you curious:
I've been a huge Russell Crowe fan since seeing Gladiator and I've made it a point ot see all of his movies. I just can't believe I waited this long to see The Insider. This is easily one of my favorites. Just wonderfully done, Russell conveys emotion that most actors are unable to do (with the exception of a few)...Russell is very much my favorite actor, and all predudice aside I believe he is the greatest actor of our generation, and I'm sure many to come. This movie was perfectly put together, every element was perfectly placed. It is well deserving of praise. I'm not a big Pucino fan, but he pulled out the stops here. Awsome performance Al, but the show stealer is once again Mr. Crowe. Great work Russell...can't wait for your next ride.
Now THIS is my new review:
First off, I love movies based on true life stories. It gives you a chance to see what happens to real people as aposed to fictional charactors. So our REAL life story here is based on Jeff Wigand (Crowe) who once worked for Bronson & Bronson (If I remember correctly, I may be off a bit) a big tobacco company. He is wrongfully fired for not seeing eye to eye with the production department. Upon being fired Wigand is contacted by 60 Minutes (namely by Pucino) who wants him to pretty much rat out big tobacco. The problem is Wigand sign a confidentiality agreement with his former company and if you renigs they will take away severence package including his health benifits, and he can't lose that for he has an asmatic daughter. The movie revolves around the struggle of morality. Do you make the moraly correct choice even if it means you lose everything you have, your home, your job, your family or do you keep quiet and save face? My wife thought the movie was slow and boring, but not I...I loved the movie and thought it carried an extremly powerful message.
PS> Russell was amazing as usual! |
| Rating | | | Date | May 25, 2005 | | Summary | Very Under-Rated Film | Content
| I Don't know why i let 5 years pass before i sat down, and watched this film - probably b/c im not the biggest russell crowe fan, w/ that said ,i thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this movie. From the beautiful cinemetography to the wonderful score, capped off by the excellent acting (pacino,plummer,crowe - in that order) one couldn't ask for more. The "taking on big corporations" premise is rarely touched upon by members in hollywood, or if it is - it's very watered down. This film is a social commentary - it dissects how corrupt and to what length corporations will go to get their way. This movie is so deep , and for the thinkers of the world only. Kudos to Mann, w/ each film i watch made by him - the bigger fan i become. Please don't pass this one up. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 19, 2005 | | Summary | GREAT docudrama | Content
| I had come to expect good things from Michael Mann after seeing "Heat" and "Collatoral", and had heard that "The Insider" was also worth watching. I heard right as it is now my favorite film from Mann, the story is based on fact about one man who dared to go against the tobacoo company and lost everything because of it. One of the films many strengths are the superb performances by Crowe and Pacino(Duh), they seem as though they could be the actual people who went through the ordeals of all this. Half docudrama half psychological thriller this is a fantastic film not to be missed! My rating 9.5/10. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 11, 2005 | | Summary | Great direction and acting elevate this smokey story | Content
| Quick camera movements and hushed dialog heighten the claustrophobia and paranoia faced by Russel Crowe, the putative hero of "The Insider". When the story starts, Wigand is a well-paid research scientist for a cigarette manufacturer. Wigand's manicured home, family and life mirror his life, but when the flick opens, we have the sense that it's already over for him. He's clearly had enough of the cigarette industry, but knows he could lose a severance package negotiated to keep him silent about the workings of his ex-employer's marketing tactics. Al Pacino as Lowell Bergman, a producer for 60 Minutes proves, at about the same time, that he's not afraid to put his personal safety on the line for the story. Christopher Plummer is a surprisingly effective Mike Wallace. In the "Insider", they come together in a sort of manipulative morality tale about corporate greed and nicotine. Though there's no secret about the health risks of chain smoking, Wigand threatens to expose the industry's attempts to make cigarettes more addictive.
Unfortunately, Wigand's attempts to expose his former employers - through both legal action and through an expose on "60 Minutes" runs into obstruction by the industry. Losing his severance package and soon his pretty family, Wigand's life is soon turned upside down. On Bergman's end, his efforts to air Wigand's expose are morphed from a complex story involving well-meaning journalists rendered powerless by questionable law - into a simpler story of noble journalist Davids against the might of corporate Goliaths (the flick shamelessly touts "corporate" as if it were a profane word, as in "did CBS News cave in to CBS Corporate?"). Mike Wallace and Don Hewitt, who probably had no power to resist CBS's initial ban against the Wigand story, are now seen as craven corporate lackeys (Wallace, who is fearless in the face of an Hizbollah bigwig early in the movie, cowers at the thought that he may be reduced to doing NPR if he disobeys orders). Played by Pacino, Bergman is the hero here (the script seems to credit him for leaking the banned story to the print media, even though WSJ is credited with doing it themselves), while Wigand is well meaning to the point of martyrdom.
Unfortunately, this account of dirty tricks and cigarette makers is undone by its own murky paranoia - just how does "Big Tobacco" manage to hold onto their political power the way nicotine holds onto smokers? Least convincing is speed with which the editorial staff at "60 Minutes" caves into corporate pressure to dump the story. It's never really explained how guys who regularly face-off against government bureaucrats, corporate honchos and terrorist leaders in the darkest corners of the new century crumble like a house of cards before big tobacco. There's a huge moral dilemma that never makes it to the story.
For all its murkiness, the film remains evocative and irresistible - great scenes, like Crowe's epiphany in a hotel room, and Pacino's giving a hotel attendant long-distance instruction in the art of talking like Al Pacino. Much of the dialog sounds like a collection of newspaper blurbs, but the story's focus and some unforgettable acting make the insider a story you just can't get yourself out of. |
| Rating | | | Date | May 09, 2005 | | Summary | Shows how powerful BIG TOBACCO really is! | Content
| Jeffery Wigand shocked the world, and his employer, when he became perhaps the most notorious whistleblower in history by revealing what was going on with his former employer. He also did not realize the power that they had, over the media, and especially when it came to destroying his life. From Bullets in his mailbox and Death Threats over email (WE WILL KILL YOU - SHUT THE ##$% UP - WE WILL KILL YOU) to digging up his past, they do everything in their power to ruin him for blowing the whistle on their big party. This great movie was directed by Michael Mann, and shows love, hate, loyalty, betrayal, secrecy, regret, and guilt. Truly a great show, and based on the true story!
The Insider tells the true story of a man who decided to tell the world what the seven major tobacco companies knew and concealed about the dangers of their product. Jeffrey Wigand (Russell Crowe) was a scientist employed in research for a tobacco firm, Brown and Williamson. Not long after he was fired by Brown and Williamson, Wigand came into contact with Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino), a producer for 60 Minutes who worked closely with journalist Mike Wallace (played here by Christopher Plummer). Bergman arranged for Wigand to be interviewed by Wallace for a 60 Minutes expose on the cigarette industry, though Wigand was still bound by a confidentiality agreement not to discuss his employment with the company. Despite Wigand's willingness to talk, CBS pulled his interview from at the last minute after Brown and Williamson threatened a multi-billion dollar lawsuit. The staff of 60 Minutes and CBS News were soon embroiled in an internal struggle over the killing of the story, and Wigand found himself the subject of lawsuits and a smear campaign, without his full story reaching the public. Eventually the truth comes out in the end, for as Lowel Burgman said.."Are we business men or are we news men?"
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