Cert 15
112 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language, drug use, drug references
Going to the cinema with someone other than Mrs W is rarer than white dog droppings but on Thursday I took a pal to Nottingham Cineworld and was suddenly aware of my movie-watching idiosyncrasies.
For example, Mrs W and I rarely converse after we have taken our seats even during the adverts.
But I hadn't seen my pal for a while and so our pre-movie nattering spilled into the trailers, This resulted in me being told off by an old lady sitting in the row behind.
Fortunately, my companion was happy to be in the third row of screen 11 after I insisted on sitting near the front, as we always do, for Michael Cuesta's Kill The Messenger.
I confessed I had no prior knowledge of the film's content and presumed it would be a laddie 'shoot 'em up' picture.
Thus, I was rather pleased when it turned out to be a thriller based on the true story of an investigative reporter (my pal is also journalist).
And I was doubly happy because Kill The Messenger is actually a damned good picture.
Jeremy Renner plays Gary Webb, a hack who made a shattering discovery while working for the little-known San Jose Mercury News in the 1990s
His inquiries led him to publish articles accusing the CIA of being in cahoots with Nicaraguan contras who had been allowed to pump cocaine into Los Angeles to fund their civil war efforts.
In other words, while successive American presidents were leading the war on drugs, the CIA was involved in the supply.
Kill The Messenger focuses on the publication of Webb's articles and the acclaim and retribution which followed them.
It is a dramatic tale of how loyalty is tested when it is under its fiercest pressure.
I like Renner and he is at his best as Webb, managing to avoid all of the journalist stereotypes.
Meanwhile, Rosemarie Dewitt plays his under-pressure wife and Mary Elizabeth Winstead portrays his young and cautious editor.
Kill The Messenger seems to have been lost among the hullabaloo surrounding the Oscars and nonsense such as Fifty Shades Of Grey. That's a shame because it is well worth watching.
Director Michael Cuesta: "Gary (Webb) was like a Doberman. His scrappy, insistent way of getting at the facts, and his ardent belief in the public's right to know the truth, was paramount to him."
Reasons to watch: Great story and powerful performance from Jeremy Renner.
Reasons to avoid: Some stereotypical characters.
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 8/10