3. Fair Game (2010)
The real-life Burn Notice, Fair Game is a lot more vicious and calculated than the fictional TV series and is based on the real-life story of former undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame, played wonderfully by Naomi Watts, and her public outing as an operative by the Bush Administration. When her husband, played by Sean Penn on typical animated form, is openly critical treatment of the government in the lead-up to war in Iraq, Valerie is targeted as a means to get back at her husband's rhetoric. The impact is obviously severe: her in-field assets are compromised, operations ceased and the family are thrust into the harsh public spotlight. Not focusing entirely on the politics behind the scene the story instead examines how a relationship survives forces far beyond the control of the two partners. The leads show great chemistry on screen in their struggle to help each other through the ordeal and it is their dynamic that makes the story so compelling. Fair Game is very much a post-Spy film: a story that scratches away the surface and glamour of the occupation to see the personal costs and unimaginable effects of a burn.