Following the death of an Archbishop, Aaron (Ed Norton) is seen running from the scene covered in blood. The police arrest him and presume that he's guilty. In the blue corner, we have defence lawyer Martin Vail (Richard Gere) who doesn't believe that Aaron is guilty and therefore he decides to represent him - he does this free of charge knowing that Aaron doesn't have the means to be able to pay him. In the red corner, we have prosecution lawyer Janet Venable (Laura Linney) who is a former colleague and former lover of Martin Vail. Both Vail and Venable set about in their defence and prosecution against Aaron, but who will end up prevailing?
This really was a film of two halves; I thought the first half of this film was fairly generic, someone is killed, they catch the person who they think has done it, that person protests their innocence. It's familiar territory and it had me thinking that it was just going to be a fairly standard legal thriller which wouldn't have been a bad thing, but merely would have just made it an 'average film'. It is in the second half of this film when things really pick up when certain 'discoveries' are made. The second half of the film is much more interesting, exciting, and engaging and when Vail makes this 'discovery' about his client it becomes both a blessing and a curse for Vali in the context of defending Aaron. The second half of the film focuses more on the courtroom battle and like A Few Good Men, Philadelphia, and The Lincoln Lawyer the court room scenes are well executed and fairly engaging.
Then we come to the acting and first we must start with Ed Norton; I couldn't believe that this was his debut motion picture - his performance was absolutely incredible. He's always been good in what's he's been in since, but I actually think his debut performance is one of his strongest. Gere was fairly good in a sort of sleazy and charming type way which is fairly standard for him. Linney also put in a good performance.
There were some minor problems with this film such as Vail's desire to represent Aaron (which is never really explained). I also could have done without some of the soppy moments between Vail and Venable which were cringe worthy and a bit pointless. Having said that, it's still worth watching and whilst it isn't the best legal thriller I've seen, it's still well above average.
This really was a film of two halves; I thought the first half of this film was fairly generic, someone is killed, they catch the person who they think has done it, that person protests their innocence. It's familiar territory and it had me thinking that it was just going to be a fairly standard legal thriller which wouldn't have been a bad thing, but merely would have just made it an 'average film'. It is in the second half of this film when things really pick up when certain 'discoveries' are made. The second half of the film is much more interesting, exciting, and engaging and when Vail makes this 'discovery' about his client it becomes both a blessing and a curse for Vali in the context of defending Aaron. The second half of the film focuses more on the courtroom battle and like A Few Good Men, Philadelphia, and The Lincoln Lawyer the court room scenes are well executed and fairly engaging.
Then we come to the acting and first we must start with Ed Norton; I couldn't believe that this was his debut motion picture - his performance was absolutely incredible. He's always been good in what's he's been in since, but I actually think his debut performance is one of his strongest. Gere was fairly good in a sort of sleazy and charming type way which is fairly standard for him. Linney also put in a good performance.
There were some minor problems with this film such as Vail's desire to represent Aaron (which is never really explained). I also could have done without some of the soppy moments between Vail and Venable which were cringe worthy and a bit pointless. Having said that, it's still worth watching and whilst it isn't the best legal thriller I've seen, it's still well above average.