This story is based on fact, although the filmmakers don't claim it's gospel and most of it is mere speculation.

Set in Los Angeles and split into two eras, the 40s to the early 50s and the late 50s to 1960, it covers the mystery surrounding the death of actor George Reeves (Ben Affleck).

Reeves is often unfairly referred to as a bit actor, when in fact he had quite an enviable career. He was also a fine amateur boxer and musician.

In 1939 he was cast as Stuart Tarleton in Gone With The Wind and over the following 10 years he was under contract to Warner, Fox and Paramount.

He very nearly made the big time in 1943 in So Proudly We Hail, but the last World War put a stop to that and he never regained the same status.

In 1959 things weren't going so well for Reeves and he was found dead in Hollywood.

Suicide was the verdict, but Reeves's mother (Lois Smith) was convinced that it was murder and hired Louis Simo (Adrien Brody) to uncover the truth.

Eight years before the handsome 6ft 3ins Reeves became a household name, when he took on the role of Superman in the TV series Adventures of Superman.

He was in 59 episodes between 1952 and 1959. He was also cast in a couple of Superman films.

However, he never took to being typecast and felt the Superman hero thwarted his career.

In the 1940s he met and fell for Toni Mannix (Diane Lane) who just happened to be the wife of Eddie Mannix (Bob Hoskins) the production head of MGM.

The Mannix's marriage was to say the least an open one, and Toni saw nothing wrong in setting Reeves up in a love nest in Benedict Canyon at her husband's expense.

The private eye Simo, whose own life we see is not a bowl of cherries, ferrets around trying to discover the truth about Reeves's demise.

Could the fact that Mannix had mafia chums, or Reeves having dumped Toni in favour of a young actress Leonore Lemmon (Robin Tunney) have any bearing on the case? Or indeed could gold digger Leonore hold the key?

This is quite the best performance of Affleck's hugely successful career.

He shows here that he is not just a handsome hunk by giving real depth to Reeves's character as an eager young actor, up to his sad end; at times he makes you weep for him.

I loved the line from Reeves' agent Art Weissman (Jeffrey DeMunn), "An actor can't always act - sometimes he has to work", because there are so many more George Reeveses than there are major stars.

Equally impressive is Hoskins who makes one believe he could well have done the dirty deed and the wonderful Lane, who also looks divine and is a great role model for the older woman.

A lot of Reeves's life is left out, for instance in 1940 he married young actress Ellanora Needles and they divorced ten years later - she only died in 2002.

The story loses steam too early, but on the whole this film noir is interesting.

The main trouble with the story is we will never know the truth, so it isn't really worth speculating.

That said, I highly recommend it on the grounds of Affleck's heart-wrenching performance.

By Clare Shepherd.