and fear, paranoia, government death squad, mistakes, remedy... it's all here, and more!
Max Raban (James Nesbitt) is a reporter with a couple of big problems, one, he's dead scared of daylight! So, he does a lot of stuff at night, midnight if necessary, like... scratching through rubbish bags to get (whatever), on one of his previous "scoops" he gets dirt on a politician, but then, his source hangs herself and Max is out of job.
But then, a very-small time soccer player gets killed, and beheaded. Whilst raking through a bin to get info on the Defence Secretary who might be having an affair, he finds a document with "Headless Torso" and "Pugnus Dei" in it. What's this all about. So he goes digging.
Gradually, the evidence builds up. He is followed, he sees his follower mugged and buys the phone and wallet from the muggers, and learns of a connection to a shady outfit called "Defence Concerns", so, of course, that's his next call. The boss is Daniel Cosgrave (Rupert Graves), the policy adviser is Alice Ross (Catherine McCormack).
This movie might be McCormack's most impressive performance. She is so well dressed, and really becomes the part, it doesn't seem like acting at all. She even has a phobia of her own. (OCD?) and it fits in perfectly with all the rest of the story. The best scene is when Alice "gets" the memory stick and copies it... but Daniel hesitates as he leaves... and knows that he NEVER leaves his keys in the desk lock...
Silliest scene is Alice, (fully clothed) in the bath!
The writing is first-class, with lots of especially good scenes with memorable, and quotable lines. And there is nothing wrong with the directing and production. I liked it.
