Defense of the Realm

"Taut, extremely entertaining" (Leonard Maltin) and laden with suspense, this fast-moving chiller stars Gabriel Byrne as a Cold War reporter who discovers that free speech comes at a deadly price. Co-starring Greta Scacchi and Denholm Elliott, Defense of the Realm is "electrifying, terrifying" and will leave you "limp from controlled tension" (Los Angeles Times)! When a tawdry sex scandal links a high-ranking British politician to a Russian KGB agent, ambitious newsman Nick Mullen (Byrne) swiftly gets the story on Page One. But when his scoop-of-the-decade begins to unravel the cover-up-of-the-century – involving military secrets, nuclear weapons and government murders – Mullen and the politician's beautiful secretary (Scacchi) finds themselves ensnared in a web of deadly intrigueÂ...where every move could be their last!

In the politically charged atmosphere of Margaret Thatcher's Britain, newspaper reporters are hungry for the big story that will make them stars and their newspapers famous. Nick Mullen (Gabriel Byrne in his first starring role) is one such reporter for the London Daily Dispatch. A top member of Parliament (Ian Bannen) is the focus of the latest political scandal: he has been photographed with a prostitute who is known to have Russian contacts. Nick barrels into the scandal full-bore, despite warnings from his mentor (a deft Denholm Elliott). Nick receives a tip that makes his story a front-page item and he quickly becomes a celebrity himself. But as he soon discovers, there is much more to the story than he imagined. Director David Drury (Prime Suspect 3) keeps this highly complex, John le Carré-esque story moving swiftly. The clues are hard to find at times, but it is not because the story is told unclearly; rather, the filmmakers have decided that audiences can think for themselves and piece together the information along with Nick. An overlooked and truly entertaining thinking person's film. --Doug Thomas