I haven't yet seen a John Sayles movie I disliked. That being said, Silver City is not one of his best. Men With Guns and Lonestar were much better. Silver City tells the tale of a politician in bed with a big business-man and the former reporter who is hired to protect the politician when a body floats up in a lake during a campaign commercial shoot. The investigator's sympathies lie against
the man
that the politician represents. Still, he has a job to do and that's to find out if any of the politician's opponents planted the body. But then he starts to find out things that no one really wants him to know…
And that's enough of the plot for my purposes. Chris Cooper plays the politican, Dickie Pilager. Danny Huston plays Danny O'Brien, the investigator. The acting and dialogue were top-notch. I love Sayles' ensemble style of plots. They generally seem less disconnected than the work of other writers and directors. And all of his plotlines are usually engaging. However, in this case the overall plot is much more trite than his other works. And it's much less subtle as well. I don't think I need to be hit over the head this much with the theme of business-men in cahoots with politicians is bad
. Thus, I give it 3 stars instead of 5 like I gave Lone Star.