"You Crossed The Line When You Stopped Treating People With Respect. You're Smart Enough To Know That. You Just Don't Care..."
When it comes to my favourite actors and actresses of recent times, the iconic and wholly reliable face of Jessica Chastain is always a healthy sight to behold, due in part to her lavish and totally envious good looks (Healthy celebrity crush incoming) but of course mainly down to a wide range of countless superb performances in films such as her outstanding leading role in Zero Dark Thirty, Christopher Nolan's science fiction masterpiece Interstellar and Terrence Malick's slightly baffling, yet undeniably beautiful The Tree of Life, all of which have quickly turned Chastain into one of Hollywood's most productive and bankable leading stars. With the release of Miss Sloane this week, the latest from The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel director John Madden, Chastain once again is given the freedom to flex her incredibly versatile acting muscles, taking a tightly wound grip of leading character Elizabeth Sloane, an esteemed and frighteningly determined US lobbyist, and completely taking control within the confines of a narrative which is as gripping as it is infectiously ludicrous where although the movie's shark-jumping conclusion does threaten to ruin the smartly positioned groundwork which precedes it, is undoubtedly an enjoyable and vigorously entertaining political ride.
With a script from first time writer Jonathan Perera, one which moves along ever so efficiently and robustly and one which inevitably nods its' head to a wide range of modes of political escapism including the likes of House of Cards and The West Wing, the titular character of Elizabeth Sloane is indeed a cold and calculated amalgamation of Kevin Spacey's Frank Underwood and Peter Capaldi's conniving and spidery spin doctor, Malcolm Tucker, in the masterful Armando Iannucci led, The Thick of It, slipping her hands into a rafter of political pies in order to achieve what she desires most. Supported by the likes of Mark Strong, Michael Stuhlbarg and Belle star, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Madden's film travels between elements of tension, comedy and tight-knit drama, occupying a much needed space in the vacuum of below-par movies I have suffered in these last few weeks, and whilst the concluding act in which genetically configured insects and a cop-out resolution does come across way too immature and silly when considering the fundamental subject matter, Miss Sloane is a highly entertaining political drama which reinforces Jessica Chastain as the person you need to take your movie up an entire critical level.
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