The Fourth State

Regular fans of these cold war thrillers might get enough from this, but it doesn't really offer us very much new. "Paul" (Moritz Bleibtreu) is a journalist who is enticed to Moscow from Berlin by publisher "Onjegin" (Rade Serbedzija) to look into an alleged Chechen terrorist attack that destroyed a block of residential flats killing many of it's occupants. Barely has he landed in the city when he witnesses the assassination of a fellow journalist - a man critical of the government, and then he finds himself involved with the equally controversial "Katja" (Kasia Smutniak) who is steering him towards crafting content for his ostensibly rather light and fluffy "society" newspaper that is bound to ruffle some official feathers. His naivete soon lands him in even more trouble when he gets caught up in another explosion that sees him arrested and incarcerated with a menacing bunch of Chechens. Is he ever to jail leave in one piece, or even alive, and might he (and we) ever get some explanations as to just who is pulling the strings and why? This is a perfectly adequately produced drama but innovating isn't a word I'd use to describe the plot. The nasty Russians are portrayed with little subtlety, reinforcing stereotypes galore right until the end, and the unprepossessing Bliebtreu hasn't really any significant screen presence as the sense of peril gently but definitely fizzles out and the story loses a bit of it's more menacing focus. This film rather reflects a directing and writing style that suggests more a familiar affection for the genre in general rather than blazing any new trails, and though it's all watchable enough, I doubt you will ever recall it.