So Many Plot Holes - Spoiler Alert!

At first blush "State Of Play" is an entertaining, well produced film with a strong cast and a juicy story. It's a lot of fun to follow along the twists and turns one expects from an action thriller. That is, until one starts to give any thought to content. It's my opinion that if one is going to go to all the trouble and expense of producing an exciting, action thriller laced with layered conspiracies it should at least be able to stand up to a casual viewing without numerous plot holes and goofs being noticeable.

Here are just three:

1) How did the assassin manipulate the young woman into standing right on the edge of the subway loading area which just happened to be one of only three "blind spots" in the passenger loading area? If the Metro officials have security cameras monitoring the area why would there be a "blind spot" where passengers get on and off the train?

2) A closeup of the Gulf War army buddies group photo is on screen at 37:55 into the movie. The camera cuts away for a few seconds and then the closeup of the photo is back on screen again. When we see it a second time it's glaringly obvious that the photo has been significantly altered from just a few seconds ago. The smiling face of the soldier at the far right (Bingham) has been changed to the unsmiling face of the actor playing the assassin and both his and Affleck's character's face have very obviously been superimposed on the corresponding men in the photo. It's instantly noticeable, so obvious and amateurishly done that I did a double take, immediately paused the DVD, and scrolled back and forth between the two closeups of the photo several times to confirm the significant differences. I'm really surprised that someone didn't catch this glaring error before the movie was released.

3) During the scene where Collins "comes clean" at the newspaper office, the scene cuts back and forth between the Collins monologue and the assassin Bingham in his room alone solemnly and somewhat ritualistically dressing in his fatigues and assembling his assault rifle much like a matador dressing in preparation for going into the ring. He phones someone (who is he calling?!) with his cell and ominously leaves a message saying, in part, "I want to assure you that I am ready to finish what we started". I guess the director is trying to throw one more twist'into the plot by misleading the audience into believing that Bingham, who we have been led to believe has been working for the "bad corporate mercenary defense contractor", is preparing to kill Collins. However, after it is revealed in the big, climactic confrontation between "best friends" Cal and Collins that Bingham has actually been working for Collins the whole time, one is left with the logical conclusion that Bingham left that message for Collins. After leaving the message, Bingham then destroyed his cell phone. So why is he out on the sidewalk with his assault rifle across the street from Collins office when Cal comes out? Where did the several police officers go who were loitering in front as Collins is shown entering his office building? What was the finishing action Bingham said he intended to accomplish when he left the message for Collins that he was ready to finish what they had started?

Bonus) How did a young woman whose only notable job experience was "waitressing" become the lead researcher for a congressional committee that was investigating a multi-billion dollar defense contractor? And with that job history how did she get a credit card that would allow her to run up a $40,0000 debt?

Oh yeah, if you have an old cell phone you're no longer using and a garbage disposal you don't mind breaking, turn it on and toss that old cell phone into it, taking care to run a little water at the same time as Bingham does. It'll make a lot of racket but it won't destroy the phone. Is this a common practice when people want to get rid of a cell phone? It seems like a 10 second scene showing him removing the battery and SIM card from the phone and throwing the three items into different dumpsters or garbage cans would have made a lot more sense, or just throwing it out the window of his moving car. When was this "lost grunt" trained for covert action? Why is he willing to murder 4 strangers?