Despite sometimes being a little over the top, the new movie
”
Runaway Jury,
”
currently playing at Premiere Cinemas, is an entertaining and
provocative thriller.
The two-hour and seven-minute release from 20th Century Fox is a
clever, yet cynical look at the court system and how in the wrong
hands it can be tampered with.
Despite sometimes being a little over the top, the new movie “Runaway Jury,” currently playing at Premiere Cinemas, is an entertaining and provocative thriller.
The two-hour and seven-minute release from 20th Century Fox is a clever, yet cynical look at the court system and how in the wrong hands it can be tampered with.
The movie, which does get a little too self-righteous at times over the gun control issue.
The plot centers on a young widow in New Orleans who sues a consortium of gun makers she feels is responsible for her husband’s murder.
Dustin Hoffman plays a Southern lawyer. Wendall Rohr, who has a real passion for the widow’s case and what it stands for.
His opponent is not the attorney representing the gun makers. In reality, the defense attorney is only the front man for Gene Hackman’s character, Rankin Fitch, a brilliant and ruthless jury consultant.
Using a high tech command center Fitch and his team of investigators scrutinize the lives of every potential juror. Fitch will use that knowledge to manipulate the jurors into doing what he wants, which is voting for the gun corporations.
The only problem is Fitch and Rohr realize they’re not the only ones with power over the jury. One of the jurors, Nick Easter, played by John Cusack, has his own plan for swaying the jury.
Rachel Weisz plays Marlee, Easter’s partner. She calls both Rohr and Fitch telling them the jury’s for sale for $10 million. While the trial is going on, a dangerous game is being played outside the courtroom.
The movie is a welcome chance for Hackman and Hoffman to work together, which seems strange considering the two legendary actors used to be roommates when they were a pair of starving acting students in New York back in the 1960s.
