Whatever happened to the paranoid conspiracy thriller? Watching the enormously satisfying, quick-witted State of Play, you struggle to think of more than a handful of recent movies that are in the same deviously intelligent league. It’s perhaps no coincidence that of the two similar films that spring to mind, one, The Insider, shares with State of Play its leading actor Russell Crowe, and the other, Michael Clayton, shares a writer in Tony Gilroy.

It’s fair to say that State of Play, adapted from the acclaimed BBC television series, takes many of its cues from the 1970s — and the great, serious-minded films about investigative journalism, such as All the President’s Men and The Parallax View, are clear influences. But while State of Play harbours a touch of nostalgia for the hero reporter of the 1970s, the film still manages to be bitingly current.

The urgency that infuses the newsroom of the Washington Globe reflects an institution, like so many other struggling newspapers in the US, that is torn between quality reporting and the gutter instincts that provide a quick fix of scandal to an increasingly bored readership. Cal McAffrey, played by Crowe, represents the old guard.

He’s a grizzled newspaperman who has no respect for the ubiquitous internet bloggers and their opinions. But Cal finds himself partnered with the paper’s resident internet whizz kid, Della Frye (Rachel McAdams), on a story involving his former college friend, the US Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck).

The scandal of Collins’s affair with a beautiful young assistant comes to light after she dies in an accident. The intrigue that unfolds takes in several seemingly unrelated murders, a Halliburton-esque security company and the slippery PR man Dominic Foy (a memorable, if brief, turn from Jason Bateman).

The director, Kevin McDonald, clearly has an affinity with the material. He’s meticulous about tying up loose ends and his pacing is spot on; deliberate and measured enough for each twist to register with the audience but never losing the sense of controlled urgency of the breaking scoop.

This is not an action movie — its thrills are more of the cerebral variety — but an opening scene that captures a ruthlessly efficient double murder is a heart-stopping entrance into Washington’s underworld. Later there’s a tremendously tense sequence where Cal, too close to a very dangerous man, is stalked by a would-be killer in an underground car park. But most rewarding is the battle of wits between a journalist compromised by a friendship and a politician who might be prepared to use that friendship for his own purposes.

This is exhilarating, compulsive storytelling and looks likely to be one of the year’s cinematic highlights.

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