The story of Spotlight was not an easy story to tell, and director Tom McCarthy delivered in spades. He certainly surprised me considering his last movie The Cobbler with Adam Sandler was a dud.
But this time he had a cast of Oscar-level actors to work with, Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams and Stanley Tucci.
But for me to stop here would be an injustice to McCarthy because he also directed Liev Schreiber, although in a much smaller role, to an Oscar-noteworthy performance. I can't remember when was the last time Schreiber was this good because I couldn't take my eyes off him when he's onscreen.
However, what should be in the spotlight here (pun intended), was the subject matter of child abuse and molestation by priests of churches all over the world. The audience, like characters of this Boston Globe's Spotlight department, was both shocked and appalled as information dripped in bit by bit at how far, how wide and how long this situation has been going on.
You could see how the devastation done to a human being in their childhood state can be carried into adulthood, the way that experience of sex was introduced to them has forever left a mark in their life.
There was a couple of things that didn't really have any continuity for me. Ruffalo's character had a minor one when his outburst was only explained insignificantly a couple of scenes later. But the way McCarthy directed John Slattery's characer (not that he wasn't great, because he was too) made him seemed like there's more to him than meets the eye, which wasn't the case and so didn't have to be misdirected that way.
Overall the movie was consistently paced and was never dull even though it was all dialogue and never had any climactic moment.
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