Cady's Take:

She quickly sets about exploiting small-time hood John Traynor (Ciarán Hinds) to expose Drug-Runner-In-Chief John Gilligan (Gerard McSorley), but her in-your-face approach inevitably puts her, and her family, in the line of fire. She is threatened, shot at and physically assaulted, but she marches on with her story.

Veronica Guerin is an emotionally powerful movie. The film is an unusual crime story in that Veronica's lone weapon is a pen, and the only way she can fight back is by writing articles.

Blanchett continues to marvel with the strength of her choice of roles and the conviction with which she plays them. She is excellent and clearly conveys Guerin’s almost evangelical zeal in the pursuit of her goal. She’s like a bulldozer in a sharp suit.

My only complaint is that Veronica persists in putting herself in danger, opening doors without finding out who is on the other side, driving a conspicuous red car and not pulling window shades or curtains at night. Oh, and there’s also a distracting, but amusing cameo from Colin Farrell as a skinhead football fan.

Veronica Guerin became a folk heroine to the people of Ireland, and her brutal murder forced a dramatic revision of Ireland's laws that led to the arrests of the country's top criminals. Her June 26, 1996 death made newspapers around the world, and she became one of the most famous journalists killed in the line of duty.

“Veronica Guerin” is the story of yes, you guessed it, Veronica Guerin. Gueren was a journalist in Ireland in the 90s and the movie starts as she embarks upon an investigation of local drug dealers. Cate Blanchett plays Veronica with a smugness and intensity that left me conflicted: Is this woman a courageous fighter in this war against drugs, or is she simply getting off on the Big Story?

What were more compelling for me were the secondary characters, John Traynor in particular, portrayed brilliantly by Cirian Hinds. Traynor is a mid-level criminal whose main source of income are brothels but who has connections in the drug world. He and Guerin have a business relationship and much of her investigation centers around information that Traynor provides. Although the storyline clearly illuminates Traynor’s feelings for Veronica (if not quite love, then great affection) Hinds dials down his performance and makes us understand that this is not a man capable of real love but whatever he is capable of he feels for Guerin. There is a very strange appearance in this movie by Colin Ferrell who plays a Dublin youth with whom Veronica has a brief conversation. I spent the rest of the movie watching for him and he never appeared.

More than anything else “Veronica Guerin” made me want to learn more about the real woman and her life. I am not sure if that qualifies this as a “good movie” or not, however at 96 minutes this film contains engaging performances and the story – while lighter on the political aspects of the investigation than I would have liked – was layered and well constructed.