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| Review |
| 06.29.04 (8:21 am) [edit] |
Okay, here's my review of Runaway Jury.
First off, I'm a huge John Grisham fan (the author of RJ and The Rainmaker, etc) and so I was really excited when I found out they were making a movie of Runaway Jury, and even more so when I discovered that John Cusack was going to be playing one of the main characters.
The screenplay for the movie is actually different to the actual book. The story of the film centers around the gun and firearms industry whereas in the book it centers around the cigarette and tobacco industry.
The change in the story is actually a good one. The movie starts off with a disgruntled former employee shooting dead eleven of his former colleagues, one of whom is a man called Jacob Wood (played by Dylan McDermott), before he shoots himself dead. It then moves forward two years and we find that Jacob's widow is suing the gun industry for their part to play in her husband's death.
Nicholas Easter (John Cusack) ends up on the jury and as the story unfolds we find that he, together with Marley (Rachel Weisz), are planning on selling the verdict to whichever side will pay $10 million for it.
Dustin Hoffman plays the widow's attorney and he desperately wants to win this case which would be a landmark ruling and set a precedent for future litigation. He wants them to finally be accountable for the many people that are killed or seriously injured by their product.
Gene Hackman plays a ruthless jury consultant who will stop at nothing to win these trials and has been doing so for many years.
I personally found the story a little predictable in places but that is probably because I've read the book so many times and knew what was coming. There are a couple of twists though that are very different from the book and they had me on the edge of my seat. Also, the fast pace leading up to the end of the movie worked really well.
It's not a movie I'd buy on DVD as it's not the type I think I'd want to watch over and over like I do with other movies, but it's definitely worth watching if you like legal thrillers.
I have to say that I think the casting in this movie was really good and they all did an awesome job.
So, all in all, I give this a big thumbs up and if I had to rate it out of ten, I'd give it a 8.
On to other things...
I was going to try and do some writing today but I found a link to a Buffy/Angel video on a message board and I had to download it. It's set to My Immortal by Evanescence and it's absolutely beautiful. It's angsty but very moving too. It took almost four hours to download but it was sooo worth it. :D I tell you though, as soon as I'm working again and I can afford it, I'm going to get myself a new PC and get set up on broadband 'cos dial-up really sucks.
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