Cert 15 132mins Stars 4

Flame haired Jessica Chastain gives a red hot performance in this scorching political courtroom drama.

The two time Oscar nominee has never been better than as Miss Sloane, a ferociously cold-blooded political fixer who takes aim at Washington DC’s powerful gun lobby.

Even her role as a deer-shooting mob wife in 2015’s A Most Violent Year wasn’t as jaw-droppingly determined to crush her opposition.

Chastain is reunited with her Zero Dark Thirty co-star, Mark Strong. Alongside fellow Brit, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, they provide the film a conscience to the dubious goings-on.

With a twisted plot is full media manipulation, bribery and blackmail, the intelligent script moves its well-heeled cast at pace through meeting rooms, TV studios and hotel assignations.

Probably due to its nakedly anti-gun agenda, this took an undeservingly small £3m in the US on an £14m budget. But don’t be fooled by negative spin, this movie hits the target.