The Hollywood remake of the BBC political thriller features Russell Crowe (who replaced Brad Pitt) as a slobbish, old school Washington DC hack who investigates a plot against his old student buddy-turned-congressman Ben Affleck.

The tightly-plotted, tortuous tale weaves through numerous sub-plots involving the apparent suicide of Affleck's mistress, to dirty tricks from a sinister private homeland security firm.

Lancastrian writer Paul Abbott's original script is beefed up by - among others - Bourne scribe Tony Gilroy while director Kevin McDonald effectively condenses the six hour-long episodes of the 2003 TV version.