CNN had been in business for a decade before the Gulf War, but it was the cable channel's coverage of the 1991 conflict, and particularly the bombing of Baghdad, that elevated it from a struggling upstart to a respected network competitor. The movie, adapted from the book by former CNN senior executive producer Robert Wiener, is more than just a well-told, well-paced, action-filled tale of broadcast bravado. Woven into the fabric of the story are several thought-provoking journalistic conflicts and an unconsummated attraction between Wiener, the brash and resourceful central figure played by Michael Keaton, and Ingrid Formanek, his equally gung-ho second-in-command, played by Helena Bonham Carter.

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