Just average thriller that needs more of a shot in the arm in order to be taken as a serious film about the judicial system. The performances are great with Gene Hackman Rachel Weisz and Dustin Hoffman doing their best in order to make you care about what is going on but the script is a mess and the direction is sloppy at best. Gene Hackman is a great actor and he does wonders with a role he has done in countless other movies. Rachel Weisz is with out a doubt one of the most versatile and most talented actresses of our generation and she is so brilliant in this film that she should have been the lead instead of John Cusack, who is horribly miscast in his role and Dustin Hoffman, who is still a class act but he's not in this movie too much at all and he does nothing other than have a fight with Gene in the men's room of all places. All three of them make this film a better viewing experience than it is but they are stuck with a bad script that not only insults their talents but insults the audiences intelligence as well. They also have a director who really seems like he had no idea on what he was doing when he was making the film. Certain scenes don't go anywhere in terms of narrative and certain scenes are way overdone in terms of dramatic effect. I think the worst thing about the whole film is John Cusack, who proves once again to be a very overrate actor with very limited range. Not only is he miscast as the lead but also he drags the whole film down in certain places because of how dreary he looks and acts. He shares the screen with Gene Hackman for three minutes and Gene literally wipes the floor with him in talent and Rachel Weisz is literally carrying him in all their scenes together, making her do all the work while he just stands there looking like a fool. A better actor would bring his fair share to the table but John Cusack does not and makes the viewer suffer because of his lack of talent. I would have rather seen more of Dustin Hoffman's character that Cusack's but unfortunately we stuck with more time with the mediocre Cusack than with the great Hoffman.
It's a good film for what it is but it needed a real script and a better direction for me to take it seriously, not to mention a much better actor for one of the roles.
It's a good film for what it is but it needed a real script and a better direction for me to take it seriously, not to mention a much better actor for one of the roles.