If you have ever been called up for Jury Service in the UK you know that the first few days at least are pretty boring, sitting in a room potentially for a great portion of the day without your name being called. And even if you do get called there is no guarantee that you will sit on a jury. I've done Jury service twice and I was lucky enough to be called twice, I have to say that it was interesting.
As regular Joe public I've no idea about the ins and outs of selection except that if you know the person on trial then you let someone know and they let you go. However in the US it would seem that trying to influence who sits on a Jury seems to be big business, they try to influence verdicts by getting someone who is biased to their cause. The idea of Jury selection of course is too eradicate bias but in reality it would seen that is not strictly true.
Runaway Jury is adapted from a book by John Grisham, the book tells the story of a woman that attempts to sue a tobacco company. The film has been altered,
changing the tobacco company with a gun company. I assume that the screenwriters felt that guns would hold peoples interest more than cigarettes, and in my opinion they were right. This lead to a much more interesting opening scene with a lot more tension that if taken directly from the book. The film opens with someone shooting a number of people in an office where they used to work, before forwarding two years to the court case, where a wife of one of the employees sue the gun company stating that they make it too easy for people and in particular this gunman to obtain guns.
Wendell Rohr is the kind, decent southern lawyer that stands for all that is good, and he is hired by the widow. Durwood Cable (Bruce Davison) is the gun manufacturer's lawyer and they have also brought in Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman) who is a jury consultant. It is he and his team of hi-tech mercenaries that look to bring bias into the Jury on the side of the gun company, these represent the bad guys. Then when have Nicholas Easter (John Cusak) and Marlee (Rachel Weisz) whom initially are an unknown quantity, but on the face of it they do seem to be doing some Jury Selection duties of their own.
It is a well known fact that Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman are good friends and that they have never before acted in the same movie. I seem to remember much being made of this before the film was released and with both being superb actors the limelight was always going to be on "their" scene together. But one mustn't forget the other actors that are interwoven into this movie. Cusack being the main one, he always seems to carry himself with an easy charm and Cliff Curtis who plays Frank Herrera and whom I've also seen as Pablo Escobar in Blow gives a brilliant performance as the cocksure ex marine which reminded me of Lee J Cobb as Juror #3 in 12 Angry Men. Rachel Weisz seems to be the weak link for me in this story, she doesn't seem to have the inbuilt toughness and ruthlessness that her character needs and I always felt that she was playing a character a bit out of her depth.
The general court scenes offer nothing new, buts its still fun to watch Hoffman and Hackman get into their respective roles, Hoffman of course in the courtroom making his case and Hackman in the background trying to win it by any means necessary. Oh and I am of the opinion that Hackman has one over Hoffman on their scene together, Hackman just seems to have a better scene presence, maybe he was just given better lines. But ultimately someone has to win the case and walk away with the spoils and although the ending was a little bit predictable it was still fun to watch, even though there are big fat plot holes staring at us from early in the movie.
Overall:
There have been many courtroom dramas over the years, some better than others. Runaway Jury is definitely in the upper echelons of the genre and pans out to be a very entertaining watch.
Please note: I wrote this review for a site that I moderate on (www.digitallard.com), I wanted to cross post here for others to read, these are all my own words and has not been copied from anyone else.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 1999 - Drama - Director: Dick Maas - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: William Hurt, Jennifer Tilly, Denis Leary, Michael Chiklis, Francesca Brown
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 1945 - Drama - Director: David Lean - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond
Based on the bestseller by John Grisham,Runaway Juryis a slick thriller that's exciting ... more
enough to overcome the gaps in its plot. The ultimate target has been changed: Grisham's legalassault on the tobacco industry was switched to the hot-button issue o...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Based on the bestseller by John Grisham,Runaway Juryis a slick thriller that's exciting ... more
enough to overcome the gaps in its plot. The ultimate target has been changed: Grisham's legalassault on the tobacco industry was switched to the hot-button issue o...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Stakes are high in an explosive trial when the widow of a gun massacre victim sues the ... more
gun's manufacturer. With millions of dollars in the balance, an unscrupulous jury consultant, (Gene Hackman), will spare no expense to ensure the chosen jury remains...
The stakes are extremely high in an explosive trial when the widow of a gun massacre ... more
victim represented by attorney Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman) sues the gun's powerful manufacturer. Now with millions of dollars in the balance 12 jurors must decid...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
![Runaway Jury [DVD] [2004]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78518960.jpg "Runaway Jury [DVD] [2004]")
very helpful by (100%):
