Runaway Jury
(2003)
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Director Gary Fleder (THINGS TO DO IN DENVER WHEN YOU'RE DEAD, KISS THE GIRLS) tackles best-selling novelist John Grisham's tale of jury manipulation in RUNAWAY JURY. Jury consultant Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman) can spin any jury in favour of his client. At least he always could before. But his latest job may turn out to be his most challenging. As an explosive civil case goes to trial in New Orleans, Fitch thinks he has arranged for the perfect jury and has the verdict sealed in favour of his client, a gun manufacturer. Soon, however, he starts receiving phone calls from the mysterious Marlee (Rachel Weisz), who claims that she can turn the jury any way she wants and--for a price--she'll spin it his way. Meanwhile, Marlee is making the same offer to the plaintiff's lawyer, Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman), a Southern gentleman who always plays by the rules. Marlee's insider is Juror No 9, Nick Easter (John Cusack), who is working with her to influence his fellow jurors. Are these two just in it for the money, or do they have another agenda |
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Like a number of its predecessors, this latest John Grisham adaptation to get the big-screen treatment is blessed with a well-known cast of the great (Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman) and the good (John Cusack, Rachel Weisz). A New Orleans woman files a suit against the gun industry (interestingly, it was the tobacco conglomerates in Grisham's original novel) after her husband is murdered during a madman's shooting spree. Unfortunately for the widow and her idealistic lawyer Wendall Rohr (Hoffman), the firearms lobby has hired ruthless “jury consultant” Rankin Fitch (Hackman) and his crack surveillance team to ensure the people chosen are predisposed to the “right” verdict. But, before you can say 12 Angry Men, into the mix comes John Cusack as a juror who is not at all what he seems. Cue machinations, manipulations, twists and counter-twists that are guaranteed to keep the audience off balance. Director Gary Fleder — who made a name for himself with Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead — has produced a well-crafted and efficient Hollywood entertainment here, despite the odd implausible plot point and simplistic central message (guns are bad, principles are good). The big disappointment has to be the lacklustre head-to-head between acting giants Hoffman and Hackman that promised much but fell far short of the must-see Pacino/De Niro eyeballer in Michael Mann's Heat.
Halliwell's Film Guide
Moderately enjoyable, if implausible, melodrama of jury tampering.