Director: Clint Eastwood
Writer: Jonathan A. Abrams
Stars: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons
Synopsis: While serving as a juror in a high-profile murder trial, a family man finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma, one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict or free the wrong killer.
Part of me wants to think that Warner Brothers intentionally held back what is likely Clint Eastwood’s last movie, Juror #2, from a nationwide release because who goes to the theater to watch a ’90s throwback courtroom thriller anymore? Those are now usually reserved for streaming. The only way anyone will shell out enough money to dust off the John Grisham ’90s genre is if it has a Taylor Swift song on the soundtrack.
The thing is, it’s pretty good. It’s a throwback to legal thrillers of years past that build anxiety-ridden intellectual suspense. So, why did Warner Brothers shelve the film? Are they afraid of political ramifications? Why not just add it to Max for streaming so more people could see it? It’s a mystery why Juror #2 was hidden in only 37 theaters, but with it coming to digital soon to rent or buy, you now have a chance to watch a Hollywood legend and his steady hand tell a good story with an even better payoff.
The story is relatively straightforward, which is surprising, considering how it starts. We first meet Justin Kemp (a very good Nicholas Hoult), who is sitting in the back of a dingy dive bar on the outskirts of Savannah, Georgia. We cannot tell yet if he has had a sip of his drink, but we can see he is struggling with the decision. As he leaves in the background, we know a couple—a total disaster of a dumpster fire type—arguing at the bar.
They are James (The Night Agent’s Gabriel Basso) and Kendall (Francesca Eastwood), whose argument eventually ends up outside in the pouring rain. Meanwhile, as the patrons watch the heated banter unfold, Kemp is in his car, struggling with something obviously on his mind. Flash forward months later, James is on trial for the murder of Kendall, and Kemp is now on the jury. Meanwhile, he has a pregnant wife at home (Zoey Deutch), and the memories of that night keep creeping up in Justin’s mind as the case progresses.
We don’t want to ruin anything for you going into Juror #2, even though almost any trailer ever made gives away too much of the plot, but most importantly, the setup, which is a joy in itself. (Can you imagine how much more enjoyable the opening sequence of Trap would have been if you didn’t know what Josh Hartnett’s character was going into the film?) What essentially happens is a morality play—12 Angry Men meets Runaway Jury. Yes, that is the lowest form of film criticism, but it’s an apt assessment here, meaning the film works as both a thriller and a finely tuned drama.
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Clint Eastwood directs, working with an original script from Jonathan Abrams, his first. The film is old-fashioned, taking its time with methodical pacing that helps with the straightforward approach as the story moves into its second and third acts. It helps when you can form a jury of disparate characters with strong personalities to distract you from that fact. J.K. Simmons plays a former detective and helps move the jury away from their passions into a more common-sense approach. That being said, the script is also heavily reliant on some red herrings and a few too many moments that would require a significant amount of incompetence for any member of the legal system to overlook.
Still, not every movie has to be a work of art, and some classics that define a generation are, for lack of a better term, fun. That’s where Juror #2 draws you in, with quietly compelling performances, like an excellent Toni Collette, playing an ambitious district attorney who lets her election campaign get in the way of the facts of the case. As questions pile up, tension, suspense, and personal stakes build as Hoult’s Kemp is put in a corner, he tries to find his way out of. Along with Hoult’s best performance of his career in The Order, this has been quite the year for the actor in leading roles.
Think of all the special effects-driven films, like comic book or adventure movies, that bypass smart writing by having a “portal” open up in the sky to avoid storytelling traps. That’s rare today, and the reason why Juror #2 is well worth your time if you’re looking for a legal thriller that is smarter than most.
You can rent or buy Juror #2 on December 3rd and stream exclusively on Max or HBO on December 17th.
