Review 732: Juror #2

  

Clint Eastwood respects our intelligence

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.

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 

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. 

the cinematography is winsome; giving us a picturesque look at  the score by Mark Mancina is 

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  of character building for an actor his age.

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 former 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