After you see Veronica Guerin, see the film about one of the crooks she nailed, The General.
Brendan Gleeson gives a standout performance as a locally-famous, modern Irish gangster. Gleeson plays a none-too-bright leech on society. He is perceived as a Robin Hood, and he does in fact give a little something to the community (because he doesn’t pay taxes), but he’s mostly in it for himself. He and his gang make several daring robberies: a daylight heist of a jewelry store, a bold assault on an art gallery. He seems to choose these jobs because they are challenging and interesting, and not because they will bring him lots of loot. He’s not a charming cat burglar, and he’s not a criminal mastermind. Rather, he’s a blue-collar worker whose profession is crime.
The General is a great character study, but if you rent it, be warned: the accented dialogue is incredibly hard to pick up. I think I literally (yes, Neil and Chris, literally) understood only about half of the words that were spoken. It’s okay to turn on the subtitles or the closed-captioning.