First two episodes were excellent. Pacey, dramatic, great interaction between journalism, politics and police investigation. What happened in episodes 3,4,5 ? The Police and their ongoing investigation were dropped from the show. The affair between the politician's wife and the journalist took up (seemingly) hours of time. You never learned anything about any of the characters inner life or emotional state. And the most ludicrous character Dominic Foy wasted everybody's time with a pathetic accent, overacting and irrational behaviour. This should have been an excellent 3 or 4 part series, not 6. Episode 6 was too talky and unrealistic. The only saving grace of the final part was the excellent comedy turn of Bill Nighy. Even then, none of the behaviour rang true of real life journalists, politicians or police.
And then there's the way it was shot. If you want to know why the latest Harry Potter movies are not very good, look at the uninventive directing of David Yates in State of Play. No idea how to frame a widescreen frame. No idea how to edit for drama, action, tension or speech. The only idea for edginess seemed to be using a hand-held camera with resulting shaky-cam effect.
*SPOILERS*
And in the end, the political games turned out to be weak, the oil company revelations were less than sinister, the politician's wife had no impact on the outcome and the big revelation was inconsistent with the two big plot turns at the beginning. 1. Who changed and classified the autopsy report ? 2. Why did the police recklessly shoot dead the assassin ?
Watch The Wire for comparison of a better TV series, better drama, more real characters, better writing, better directing, better editing.
Watch All the President's Men for filming in an open plan newspaper office. Watch Parallax View for journalism, company and political tension.
David Yates is no Alan J Pakula.
And then there's the way it was shot. If you want to know why the latest Harry Potter movies are not very good, look at the uninventive directing of David Yates in State of Play. No idea how to frame a widescreen frame. No idea how to edit for drama, action, tension or speech. The only idea for edginess seemed to be using a hand-held camera with resulting shaky-cam effect.
*SPOILERS*
And in the end, the political games turned out to be weak, the oil company revelations were less than sinister, the politician's wife had no impact on the outcome and the big revelation was inconsistent with the two big plot turns at the beginning. 1. Who changed and classified the autopsy report ? 2. Why did the police recklessly shoot dead the assassin ?
Watch The Wire for comparison of a better TV series, better drama, more real characters, better writing, better directing, better editing.
Watch All the President's Men for filming in an open plan newspaper office. Watch Parallax View for journalism, company and political tension.
David Yates is no Alan J Pakula.