BEFORE: Last night's film was all about cyber-crime, so I'll switch to regular crime - a legal thriller that came onto the list after my January/February legal chain ended. But I'll use it to kick off Liam Neeson Week. Linking from "Hackers", Angelina Jolie was in "Pushing Tin" with John Cusack, who was in "Say Anything" with John Mahoney (last seen in "Dan in Real Life"), who appears here as a judge.
THE PLOT: A judge commits suicide, and his secretary is found murdered. A homeless deaf-mute man, Carl Anderson, is arrested for her murder.
AFTER: Tonight's film is all about monkeying with due process. Anyone who's ever watched "Law & Order" knows that a lawyer's not supposed to have any outside contact with a jury member - but that's the device used here to move the plot forward. An antsy juror plays detective (hey, we also saw that in "Twelve Angry Men"...) but I wasn't sure if he was trying to solve the case in pursuit of justice, looking to bring about a swift end to his jury duty, or just trying to score with the defense attorney. Maybe all three?
Either way, though, it's grounds for a mistrial. But the defense attorney spends the first half of the film hiding her communication with the juror in order to avoid a mistrial (or being disbarred...) and then later in the film she suddenly argues for one. Why the complete turn-around?
In addition, we've got evidence tampering, shoddy lawyering, red herrings, and a lot of those suspenseful shots in dark alleys and after-hours buildings. But the movie saves the biggest twists (and the biggest legal malfeasances) for last. Seems like the whole movie might have been a bit of a dodge, just to bring about a twist that you probably haven't seen in any other legal thriller.
NITPICK POINT: The movie points out that the parking lot attendant checks the license plates in the lot every two hours. So how likely is it that the victim's car would still be in the lot, untouched, months after the murder? Clearly its location was known, but wouldn't that car have been considered evidence, and moved to a place where it could be examined?
Also starring Cher (last seen in "Silkwood"), Dennis Quaid (last seen in "Great Balls of Fire!"), Joe Mantegna (last seen in "Valentine's Day").
RATING: 4 out of 10 objections
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