Review 732: Juror #2

  

Clint Eastwood respects our intelligence, he understands that we are willing to engage with challenging ethical debates with well rounded characters

Journalist, recovering alcoholic and prospective father Justin Kemp is serving as a juror in a high profile murder trial, finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma, one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict - or free - the accused killer.

Juror #2 feels very old fashioned in its presentation The screenplay by Jonathan Abrams keeps you guessing and on the edge of your seat. The death is revealed to us in flashbacks to about a year before the events of the film took place from different perspectives with slightly different details and angles, depending on the witness and evidence. We know this: After a night of drinking and arguing with abusive boyfriend James (Gabriel Basso), blonde bombshell Kendell Carter (Francesca Eastwood, director Eastwood's real life daughter) ended up dead on some rocks under a bridge 

At its core are a number of meaty and thoughtful questions and themes for the audience to ponder over. Are we capable of change or we doomed to repeat mistakes in different ways? The film seems pivot towards the former, but even then there's an undercurrent of cynicism to    Even if people change, the emotional bagage that they carry with them will taint    Does a reformed man deserve a life scentence in prison for an accident? Does a troubled man deserve freedom because he didn't commit the crime that he's on trial for?  As we see through the case of James Michael Sythe and Justin and the commitee of Jurors debate wether he did in fact kill Kendall.

We have great big courtroom scenes where Justin and the other members of the jury discuss wether Sythe is indeed guilty or not  We get these very powerful points of view being argued very cogently by a diverse group of jurors. Because this is what they've been selected to do, because they have conviction

the cinematography is winsome; giving us a picturesque look at Savannah, Georgia, the score by Mark Mancina is hauntingly beautiful,

Nicholas Hoult gives an Justin is a recovering alcoholic and has been sober for four years after multiple DUIs. The film effectively builds him out as a sympathetic, nice guy, a loveing husband and soon-to-be father who'd rather be at home caring for his extremely pregnant wife Allison (Zoey Duetch). But he has a guilty conscience,  If he turned himself in, no one would believe he was sober on the night of the accident given his history which means he'll probably spend a long time behind bars. Hoult gives us a fantastic display of character building for an actor his age.

Zoey Duetch definately impressed playing Allison, Justin's pregenant wife. Taking the into a wholesome, sympathetic character making her feel integral to the movie even when she isn't.

In a sort of About a Boy reunion, Toni Collette plays Faith Killebrew, an Assistant District Attorney who thinks that it's an open-and-shut case that will get her into the district attorney's office.

Kiefer "Jack Bauer" Sutherland is only in a handful of scenes but he leaves his mark on every one of them as Larry Lasker, Justin's AA sponser and his district attorney.

J. K. Simmons is also noteworthy in this film playing intriguing fellow juror and retired homicide detective simply known as Harold who has his own suspicions about how the case was handled. It seems like he'll be a foil to Hoult's Justin. But without giving too much away, through some rather underhand means, Justin gets him thrown off the case before he can get any dirt on him.

4.5/5.