1 Conflicted Man

Say what you want about some of Clint Eastwood's recent output, the man delivers classic filmmaking and Juror #2 is no different. A cleanly shot and straight to the point courtroom drama about morals and justice, it feels like it could have been made anytime in the last seventy years.

Nicholas Hoult plays Justin Kemp, a four years sober alcoholic who is summoned for jury duty. He'd rather be at home with his heavily pregnant wife but is happy to do his duty until a slight wrinkle emerges; a man is on trial for the murder of his girlfriend but Justin may well of killed her in a hit and run a year ago. Knowing the accused is innocent, but not fancying spending the rest of his own life in jail, he tries to convince his fellow jurors to return a not guilty verdict while not implicating himself in the death. A task made harder on both ends by Toni Collette's hotshot prosecutor, determined to land the conviction that will secure her the District Attorney position, and fellow juror JK Simmons, a retired detective who starts to do some digging.

There are a couple of threads running through Juror #2. Has Collette's lawyer lost sight of justice in her quest for glory? Gabriel Basso's accused may be innocent of the murder but does he really deserve mercy? Really though, it's Justin's story and the movie is pinned on a fantastic central performance from Hoult who makes us really feel his dilemma. He is not a villain trying to get away with murder, rather an ordinary guy concealing the truth out of understandable self preservation. He genuinely spent the previous year thinking he hit a deer and his first inclination on learning the truth is to confess. He is talked out of this by his AA sponsor and lawyer Kiefer Sutherland who tells him circumstances (not least the fact he has a history of drink driving) mean he would be looking at a very long time in prison. Add in the fact his wife is stressed at being left alone due to her pregnancy being high risk and having previously lost twins and we can feel his tension emanating from the screen.

While the central conceit and character are delivered expertly there are other parts of the film that feel much more slap dash. Some of the dialogue is tin eared (pretty much all the interactions between Hoult and wife Zoey Deutch are sickeningly saccharine) and some of the other jurors are outrageously thin caricatures. We've got black guy who runs a youth centre and has "seen the damage gangs cause", young stoner guy, true crime obsessed women and sage older lady amongst others. None of these characters are massively important but something a little less cardboard cut out would have been nice and when the weak characters and dialogue combine the film can stumble and on occasion become outright annoying.

For the most part, the quality of the film making over rules the script's weaknesses and it's nice to see a glossy example of this increasingly rare genre on the big screen, even if the ending feels a little bit like the film is trying to have its cake and eat it. If this ends up being Clint's last film then it's a fitting conclusion to a career that has always been interested in justice and redemption. Then again, if he can release a film at 94 there's no reason he can't do it at 96.

7 neck tattoos out of 10

Comments

Welcome to Earth

Early on in Disclosure Day a character is told not to, under any circumstances, release the world changing information he has on the internet. For the masses to accept the truth, the reveal must be a carefully orchestrated, communal event. That's because this alien conspiracy thriller is a film about how important it is to tell a story the right way. There aren't many people more qualified to make such a statement than Steven Spielberg. Josh O'Connor plays Daniel Kellner, a cybersecurity expert who has stolen evidence of alien visitation from his employers and is trying to get it into the hands of his colleague, Coleman Domingo's Hugo so they can blow the doors off years of cover ups. Meanwhile, TV meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) is finding she can speak multiple languages, including one that seems to be non-human, and finds herself compelled to find Daniel. Chasing after them is shady suit Noah Scanion (Colin Firth) and his security team. These event...

He-Management

A second Masters of the Universe movie (after the 1987 Dolph Lundgren vehicle) has been on the docket for a long time, with directors from John Woo to Jon M. Chu attached and rights bouncing around various studios. The success of Barbie (another Mattel property) is likely the reason this iteration of the project has finally made it to screens. While a look at what constitutes modern masculinity means it does share a little in common with its pink dappled cousin, it mostly just contents itself with being the most sincerely dumb summer blockbuster you can imagine. Nicholas Galitzine plays Adam, the Prince of Eternia, sent to Earth as a child to escape the skull-faced villain Skeletor (Jared Leto) who has conquered our hero's homeland. Fast forward fifteen years, and Adam is now a friendly Human Resources worker freaking out potential dates by telling them he is the long lost prince to a land of magic and wonder. Finally finding the "Sword of Power" he dropped on hi...

Rushed Girl

Supergirl is the second film in Warner Bros' relaunched DCU. After the previous iteration fizzled out like a damp firework James Gunn was brought in to oversee a new dawn that promised to focus on quality over quantity and compelling scripts over corporate deadlines. Unfortunately, two films and less than a year in and we already have a movie that has clearly been made to fit a schedule rather than because anyone had a great idea for the character. Milly Alcock plays the titular Kryptonian, or Kara to her friends (not that she has any). Still mourning the loss of her home and family, and disillusioned with life on Earth, she is celebrating her birthday alone on a planet with a red sun. The lack of yellow sunlight hampers her superpowers meaning she can get drunk, but it also means she unable to stop her beloved dog Krypto from being poisoned when bad guy Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts) turns up to steal her ship. With three days to get the antidote she embarks on a mission to hunt do...

Sick Burn

The Evil Dead is horror's most consistent brand, with six films spanning over forty years and not a dud in sight. With Evil Dead Burn, French director Sébastien Vanicek keeps the streak alive, even if he doesn't quite manage to nail the unique feel of earlier entries. Souheila Yacoub plays Alice, whose husband dies in a Deadite (person possessed by a demon) induced car crash. A very tense post funeral get together with her in-laws goes from grim to apocalyptic when the dead arrive looking for a dagger that is capable of sending them back to hell. This is a slight change-up to the usual Evil Dead formula. Normally some fool reads from the Book of the Dead and the Deadites show up to torment and kill people with gleeful abandon. What distinguishes the undead nasties from those in other films is the fun they take in the mayhem. They are neither mindless monsters nor serious soldiers of Satan. They are just here for the love of the game. This somewhat softens the gore and allows ...

The Bourne IT

The set up for The Amateur is a well worn one, a man loses his wife in a terrorist attack and goes on a mission of revenge. The twist is, that while Rami Malek does play a man with a particular set of skills, they aren't the ones you would expect. Charlie Heller is a socially awkward CIA cryptographer with precisely zero fighting ability and no experience using firearms. He is though, a technological genious who invented half the agencies cyber security and can track and predict patterns like a computer. When his blatantly shady boss, played with smug glee by Holt Mccallany, refuses to act on Charlie's info about the killers he blackmails him for some training and the green light to pursue the perpetrators himself. The two main questions are, can the mild mannered tech guy thrive in the field and is this twist on the formulae enough to carry a fairly by the numbers espionage thriller? The answer to both is, pretty much, yes. Malek is tailor made for roles like this and it'...

Can't Surf On Our Turf

The Surfer is a 70's style, psychedelic, psychological thriller set entirely on a beach and adjoining car park. Nicholas Cage is the eponymous character who may or may not be losing (or already have lost) his mind. It is simultaneously playfully fun and ickily unpleasant. Cage (his character is not named) takes his teenage son surfing, his plan being to show off the fancy clifftop pad he is in the process of buying, which also happens to be the house he grew up in. He doesn't get the chance however, as a group of alpha male surf bros have taken over the beach and declared it for local use only. His son returns to school, but Cage stays in the car park, determined to finalise his house deal and find out what is going on with Julian McMahon and his cult like band of beach thugs. Suffering a series of mishaps, he ends up stranded in the car park, and the baking heat, for days and begins to resemble the local hobo more than the successful businessman he began as. Two thin...

Its a Scary World Out There

Three movies into his career and it's clear that Ari Aster is a filmaking mad genius. Quite how much is genius and how much is madness is up for debate. Beau is Afraid, a three hour long, deliberately obtuse endurance test doesn't help answer that question. Main character Beau certainly flirts with madness. In therapy and suffering from some major mummy issues an impending trip to see said mother is the last thing his fragile psyche needs. After a disappearing suitcase and passport lead to him missing his plane the journey becomes an odyssey, reflecting the stages of life and all tinged with Beau's maternal issues. We see everything from Beau's point of view, bringing into question how much of the crazy world is real and how much is the interpretation of mind that is always afraid. Maybe the world outside his apartment really is a semi apocalyptic nightmare or maybe he just feels that way. Perhaps his mother has influence over everyone he meets or perhaps she doesn...

It Sure Does

Love Hurts is Ke Huy Quan's first ever lead role. After decades out the game and struggling to keep his insurance prior to his Oscar winning turn in "Everything Everywhere, All At Once", you can hardly blame him for taking the chance to front a movie. Unfortunately, in Jonathan Eusabio's directorial debut, he has landed in a misfire. Quan plays Marvin Gable, a cheery real estate agent living his best life as he crushes the sales game and keeps everyone in the office (except for his depressed assistant) happy with his home baking. Unbeknownst to his colleagues he used to be a gangland hitman for his mob boss brother "Knuckles" and when the mysterious Rose, who Marvin was supposed to have killed, remerges, big brother dispatches the goons to get some answers from him. Cue high jinks as Marvin battles henchmen kung fu style while trying to keep his current and past lives from colliding. It's a fun idea but nothing quite comes together in the execution. Th...

Tune In, Cop Out

Tuner lead character Nikki (Leo Woodall) hasn't had much luck. His parents aren't around and H yperacusis (an extreme sensitivity to noise) put an end to his piano playing days. Now he puts his enhanced sense to use as a piano tuner, working for mentor and father figure Harry (Dustin Hoffman). When Harry falls ill and into debt, Nikki takes on a sideline in safe cracking for shady security boss Uri (Lori Raz). All is well at first, but as time goes on it becomes increasingly hard for Nikki to juggle his day job, lucrative but dangerous side hustle and a blossoming romance with musical student Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu). The set up may make you think you are in for a slick crime caper, but that's not really what this film is. Director Daniel Roher made his name in documentaries and Tuner has a very naturalistic feel. The city is vibrant and busy while close up shots show the intricacy of the pianos and locks Nikki has mastery over. We are following characters (mainly Nikki)...

Big City Slashing

Scream 6 is a definite improvement over last years weak entry in the franchise. In fact Scream 2022 now feels like a modestly budgeted water tester, putting the stabers out to see if there was appetite for a proper sequel. Things start with a bang, the introduction being the most interesting flip on the standard opening kill to date and from there its clear there is a cleqr sense of ambition about preceedings. Relocating to New York gives everything a fresh feel and a sense of scope that the last entry lacked with the film making good use of the opportunity to see a Ghostface acting differently. Rather than lurk in the shadows the killer can now hide in plain site and this iteration of the stabby Munch fan has some great dialogue and physicality. They also deliver some of the most graphic slayings a Scream outing has seen. Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega return as the Carpenter sisters and put in good performances even if the tension between them feels forced. There are issues...

Dan Says its Alright

Search This Blog