Surprisingly entertaining, albeit kind of helter-skelter at times, "Runaway Jury" ends up being one of the better films of this cinematic year. In New Orleans a high-class stock broker (Dylan McDermott) is gunned down in his office, along with 10 other co-workers. Fast forward a little and his widow (Joanna Going) is taking the manufacturers of the gun that ultimately killed her husband to court in a nationally imperative suit. The gun manufacturers take no chances in the verdict as they decide to get the shady Gene Hackman (in a delightfully wicked role) to go behind the scenes literally via surveillance equipment, public records and everything else at his disposal to help lawyer Bruce Davison choose a jury that will deliver a not-guilty verdict. On the other side of the coin Southern attorney Dustin Hoffman is trying to strike a major blow against the American gun industry. He is a straight-shooter and has a sense of moral duty, but he is visibly shaken when anti-Hackman specialist Jeremy Piven visits him as the trial is about to start and explains that his services are needed if Hoffman is going to be able to sway the jury to his side. It is apparent quite quickly that electronics store employee John Cusack is the primary juror who is going to take center-stage. Soon we realize though that he may have ulterior motives of his own. He keeps popping up around with the beautiful, but suspicious Rachel Weisz and it becomes pretty obvious that the duo may not be strangers at all. They might even be working together in an elaborate scheme to control the jury and force Hackman's people and Hoffman's people to sweat over what the verdict will be. Why would they be doing this? Well for millions of dollars of course, but is that the only reason and how noble or how deviant are their methods in reality? "Runaway Jury" kept me guessing and confused for most all its running time (this is a compliment). Just when I thought everything was crystal clear the film jumped to chaos and jumbled the atmosphere of the picture once again. Hackman dominates and Hoffman matches his brilliance blow by dizzying blow. Cusack and Weisz definitely have a chemistry and end up being a dynamic duo with deceptively difficult parts to pull off. Everyone else is good enough to make the thing work. The ending is somewhat ho-hum really, but I liked the vast majority of the movie well enough to give it a positive rating. 4 stars out of 5.
Review of Runaway Jury
