Runaway Jury

Reviewed by Cathy Edsey Collins

for Reel Movie Critic

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Cast

John Cusack: Nicholas Easter

Gene Hackman: Rankin Fitch

Dustin Hoffman: Wendell Rohr

Rachel Weisz: Marlee

Directed by Gary Fledger, based on John Grisham novel

Not Exactly the Book

It's been six years since the last Grishman legal thriller, "Rainmaker", hit the big screen and nearly seven since "The Runaway Jury" dominated bookstore shelves. Numerous directors, screenwriters and casts changes have bogged down production but this legal thriller is finally gracing the big screen. The bogeyman of the book-the tobacco industry-has been updated to a gun manufacturer, with New Orleans stockbroker Dylan McDermott and eleven others gunned down by a disgruntled employee and his McDermott's widow suing the gun company.

In spite of this literary departure, "Runaway Jury" is a slick entertainment, a courtroom thriller that delivers suspense and enough unexpected twists to leave even Grisham purists satisfied. Behemoth stars Hackman and Hoffman - together for the first time -- turn in journeyman performances as opposing forces, with Hoffman's Louisiana drawl sounding distractingly reminiscent of his Dorothy Michaels twang in "Tootsie" and Hackman playing Mr. Evil with an assurance right out of his lawyerly turn in "Class Action". Indeed, there is an odd feeling throughout the film that we have seen these portrayals and these dynamics onscreen before. Even John Cusack, whose Everyman appeal has carried many a mediocre movie, seems like he is treading familiar territory here. Perhaps its simple a case of one too many Grishams, courtroom overload on bookstore and videostore shelves. Perhaps it is years of "The Practice" and "Law and Order". It is all starting to blend together….

And yet this tense drama about jury tampering is riveting. The whole "science" behind jury selection is fascinating and disturbing. Hackman as the jury selection consultant rules the jury selection process like a ruthless football coach, complete with hidden cameras, microphones and constant feed to the in-court attorneys as to what to say and do. Paid by the defendant to deliver a not-guilty verdict by ensuring a sympathetic jury, Hackman's masterful Fitch is all about barking orders and spouting coldly calculating words to live by -- "A trial is too important to be left to a jury." Obviously, because he leaves no stone unturned in his quest for the desired verdict. Surveillance technicians and thugs work side-by-side to unearth the goods on the prospective jurors and then threaten them into cooperating.

Cusack is the wild card in the event, out-foxing Fitch at every turn. Clearly he has his own agenda, trying to wiggle out of his jury duty when it becomes crystal clear that he wants the exact opposite but why? Cohort Marlee works from outside, offering the jury to the highest bidder. Fitch is enthralled and enraged. Hoffman's idealistic Rohr uninterested. A nice confrontation, a' la Pacino and DeNiro in "Heat", between Hackman and Hoffman ensues.