The Insider review

 Number 387 on the top 1000 films of all time is Michael Mann's 1999 biopic 'the Insider.'

The Insider tells the real-life story of Dr Jeffrey Wigland (Russell Crowe) - a whistleblower in the tobacco industry who alleged that his former employer - the Brown and Williamson tobacco company is chemically altering their product to make it more addictive. He takes the story to CBS producer Lowell Bergman (Al Pacino.) The two have to defend the story and themselves as Brown and Williamson aim to discredit Wigland.

To start this review, I need to address the Russell Crowe-shaped elephant in the room. While he was good as Wigland, earning a Best Actor Oscar nod, I also think he was miscast. The Insider was released in 1999 when Russell Crowe was 35. The real life Dr Wigland blew the whistle in 1996 when he was 54 - almost 20 years older than Russell Crowe. Crowe was too young for the part and not convincing as a fifty-year old no matter how much grey hair-dye they applied.

While he may have been miscast, he did well with Eric Roth's and Michael Mann's Oscar-nominated screenplay. This was a year before he featured in the film that forever defined his career - Gladiator. After his Oscar-winning role there, Crowe could never again shake off the shadow of Maximus Decimus Meridius. Thankfully, as the Insider was released a year earlier, I didn't need to worry about that here.

Al Pacino was a better choice to play Lowell Bergman. Rather than 19, there was only nine years separating him from his real-life counterpart. Of the two, he was more engaging bringing a quiet intensity and ferocity to the role. As the film portrays, Bergman struggled in defending Wigland's testimony and Pacino portrayed this righteous indignation well.

The Insider also marked a noted departure from the stylised dramas that have so defined Michael Mann's career. It is a very different film to Heat, Collateral and Public Enemies, but Mann still did it justice. He is already a director known for his meticulous attention to detail, but he and Roth took things one step further by sticking purely to the facts. If something could not have been independently verified by three separate sources, it wasn't to be included in their film. This paid off, as Mann directed a well-researched and engaging film.

Overall, the Insider was enjoyable enough. Pacino was great, but I do think Russell Crowe was miscast. An older actor should have been cast instead.