State of Play (2009)

State of Play is a 2009 political thriller film directed by Kevin Macdonald. It is based on the 2003 British television serial of the same name.

The film tells of a journalist's (Russell Crowe) probe into the suspicious death of a congressman's (Ben Affleck) mistress. The supporting cast includes Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman, Robin Wright and Jeff Daniels. Macdonald said that State of Play is influenced by the films of the 1970s and explores the subject of privatization of American Homeland Security and to a minor extent journalistic independence, along with the relationship between politicians and the press. It was released in North America on April 17, 2009. The film received generally positive reviews.

One night, a thief fleeing through Georgetown in Washington, D.C., is shot by a man carrying a briefcase. A deliveryman who witnesses the incident is also shot by the killer and is left in a coma. The following morning, a young woman is killed by a Washington Metro train in what seems to be suicide. Congressman Stephen Collins is distraught to hear that the woman was Sonia Baker, a researcher on his staff. Collins, who has military experience, is leading an investigation into PointCorp, a private defense contractor with controversial operations involving mercenaries. Collins tells his college roommate and old friend Cal McAffrey, an investigative reporter, that he had been having an affair with Sonia and that she had sent him a cheerful video message on the morning of her death, which he says is inconsistent and unusual behavior for someone about to commit suicide.

Della Frye, a reporter and blogger with the online division of Cal's newspaper and its editor, Cameron Lynne, discover that Sonia's death occurred in one of only three CCTV blind spots in the Metro camera system. Cal believes the shootings are related to Sonia's death and finds a link between the thief and a homeless girl who sought out Cal. The girl gives him photographs that the thief, a friend of hers, had stolen from the killer's briefcase. The photos show surveillance images of Sonia talking to a well-dressed man. Della visits the hospital where the deliveryman is regaining consciousness and witnesses his murder by an unseen sniper. Later, she reviews CCTV footage and recognizes a man she saw at the hospital.

It is later revealed that PointCorp stands to gain billions of dollars annually from its mercenary activities in the Middle East and domestically. Cal speaks with Collins, who shares his research findings: PointCorp is cooperating with other defense contractors to create a monopoly and purchase government surveillance and defense contracts, essentially privatizing United States security. Cal's PointCorp insider returns with the address of someone linked to the suspected assassin. Cal finds the assassin living there and calls the police, who force the man to disappear after he shoots at Cal.

Della, following a lead, finds the identity of the well-dressed man who was speaking to Sonia in the listed photographs. He is Dominic Foy, a PR executive working for a subsidiary of PointCorp. Cal blackmails Foy into talking about his activities with Sonia and secretly tapes their conversation. He reveals that Sonia was being paid to spy on Collins and to seduce him to get information for PointCorp, but she fell in love with Collins and was pregnant with his child when she was killed.

Before Cal's newspaper goes to press, Collins goes on record to present his research into PointCorp. Collins's estranged wife Anne, whose conversation with Cal seems to imply a past love triangle dating back to their college years, reveals that she knows the amount of money Sonia received from PointCorp, after hearing Collins's statement to the newspaper. After the couple leaves, Cal realizes that Collins already knew that Sonia was working for PointCorp. Cal wonders what Collins would have done had he known he had been tricked and whether Collins himself is connected with Sonia's assassin. A picture of Collins from his military days, with the assassin in the frame, confirms Cal's hunch. Collins reveals that he had been suspicious of Sonia, and that he hired the assassin to watch her. The assassin is U.S. Army corporal Robert Bingham, whose life Collins had once saved. Collins says that Bingham hated PointCorp more than he did, and that he killed Sonia with no authorization.

Cal tells Collins that he has three minutes to leave his office before the police arrive, as he has already contacted them. As he leaves the building, Cal is confronted by Bingham. Officers arrive and shoot Bingham before he opens fire. Cal leaves and goes to his office. There, Cal and Della type up their own story, noting that Collins was secured and arrested.