Runaway Jury is the newest legal thriller based on a novel by John Grisham. For those who slept through the nineties, Grisham novels have sold more than sixty million copies making Grisham the best selling author of the past decade. Grisham is one of those authors I can't wait to read, and I am usually reading his latest novel as soon as it comes out.
This is the first adaptation of a Grisham novel in quite a while. The author is one of a handful of authors who retains a great deal of control over the filmed adaptations of their works. This includes final approval of cast, directors, and script. I suspect he's fairly happy with the outcome of this latest adaptation.
Gary Fleder directs with a sure hand and manages to keep the story moving quite well. Fleder also directed Kiss the Girls, and Don't Say a Word. Both of those films were high energy and charged with suspense. The same is true here. It is a tribute to the filmmaker that I was on the edge of my seat at several points in spite of the fact that I had already read the book.
Some of the credit for the suspense goes to the cast. Gene Hackman plays a high-powered high-tech jury consultant who uses every means possible to help his clients get the verdict they want. Dustin Hoffman plays the attorney representing the plaintiffs-the family of a man killed in a workplace shooting. The case under consideration is a lawsuit against the gun manufacturers who made the gun used in the shooting. In the novel, the case was about the tobacco industry but tobacco lawsuits are passé, so the change of topic helps the film feel more relevant.
In the end, the basis of the suit doesn't matter, because the story is really about the judicial system itself. John Cusack plays one of the jurors and works with an accomplice on the outside to sell the verdict to the highest bidder. Cusack, Hoffman, and Hackman turn in excellent purposes with Hackman giving us some of his best work in a while. This is Hackman's third appearance in a Grisham adaptation (The Firm and The Chamber) and he does a great job of playing the guy we love to hate. Hoffman is excellent and almost understated as the attorney who believes in justice and due process almost the point of being naïve.
The basic premise of the film stretches credulity at points, and the tone of the film teeters between skepticism and cynicism about the judicial system. The only major distraction for me involved casting. The actor who plays the judge who presides over the trial played the sheriff in another courtroom drama, My Cousin Vinny. I kept waiting for Joe Pesci to pop up. This minor point aside, Runaway Jury is a well-crafted legal thriller that should be a runaway hit.
This is the first adaptation of a Grisham novel in quite a while. The author is one of a handful of authors who retains a great deal of control over the filmed adaptations of their works. This includes final approval of cast, directors, and script. I suspect he's fairly happy with the outcome of this latest adaptation.
Gary Fleder directs with a sure hand and manages to keep the story moving quite well. Fleder also directed Kiss the Girls, and Don't Say a Word. Both of those films were high energy and charged with suspense. The same is true here. It is a tribute to the filmmaker that I was on the edge of my seat at several points in spite of the fact that I had already read the book.
Some of the credit for the suspense goes to the cast. Gene Hackman plays a high-powered high-tech jury consultant who uses every means possible to help his clients get the verdict they want. Dustin Hoffman plays the attorney representing the plaintiffs-the family of a man killed in a workplace shooting. The case under consideration is a lawsuit against the gun manufacturers who made the gun used in the shooting. In the novel, the case was about the tobacco industry but tobacco lawsuits are passé, so the change of topic helps the film feel more relevant.
In the end, the basis of the suit doesn't matter, because the story is really about the judicial system itself. John Cusack plays one of the jurors and works with an accomplice on the outside to sell the verdict to the highest bidder. Cusack, Hoffman, and Hackman turn in excellent purposes with Hackman giving us some of his best work in a while. This is Hackman's third appearance in a Grisham adaptation (The Firm and The Chamber) and he does a great job of playing the guy we love to hate. Hoffman is excellent and almost understated as the attorney who believes in justice and due process almost the point of being naïve.
The basic premise of the film stretches credulity at points, and the tone of the film teeters between skepticism and cynicism about the judicial system. The only major distraction for me involved casting. The actor who plays the judge who presides over the trial played the sheriff in another courtroom drama, My Cousin Vinny. I kept waiting for Joe Pesci to pop up. This minor point aside, Runaway Jury is a well-crafted legal thriller that should be a runaway hit.