Runaway Jury

Other Titles:	View 1 Title
Year:	2003
Country:	USA
Language:	English
Genre:	Crime, Drama, Thriller
IMDB:	IMDB Page
Rating:	4.0 Rate
Collection:	Seen It Wishlist
Community:	7 Have Seen


Director	Gary Fleder
Selected Cast	John Cusack as Nicholas Easter
	Rachel Weisz as Marlee
	Gene Hackman as Rankin Fitch
	Dustin Hoffman as Wendell Rohr
	Bruce Davison as Durwood Cable
	Bruce McGill as Judge Harkin
	Jeremy Piven as Lawrence Green
	Nick Searcy as Doyle
	Nestor Serrano as Janovich
	Jennifer Beals as Vanessa Lembeck
	Nora Dunn as Stella Hulic
	Luis Guzmán as Jerry Hernandez
	Dylan McDermott as Jacob Woods

On DVD & Blu-ray World

VHS

Runaway Jury - 20th Century Fox - USA (2004)

DVD

Runaway Jury - 20th Century Fox - USA (2004)

VHS

Runaway Jury - 20th Century Fox - Australia (2004)

DVD

O Júri - 20th Century Fox - Portugal (2004)

Comments and Reviews


jaimeeduardo 9th Oct 2020



Twistin 18th Aug 2020		Rated 1/10 Mercy! Hollywood really DOES do propaganda better than enemies of the state. Good propaganda commands some respect for its clever use of sound and vision to manipulate the subject at hand. Some of my favorite films belong to this category due to their creative license with reality during the WWII era. Runaway Jury left me embarrassed for the filmmakers (hell, for the film industry!) because they do the genre such a disservice. A small town community theater could make a more convincing case for any given topic, political or otherwise. The screenplay is the nucleus of the problem, beginning with changing the subject of John Grisham's original novel from a legal battle with the tobacco industry to a favorite Hollywood screed, the gun industry. The film is sold as a smart courtroom drama / thriller, but rather than impressing the viewers with facts and stats from either side to make their respective legal cases, the script bypasses all of those pesky details in favor of pure emotion. As Dustin Hoffman recites his closing arguments against the gun lobby to the jury, sentimental music stirs the heart strings valiantly, but when the defendant's legal rep, played by Bruce Davison, delivers his closing statement, the music turns dark and eerie. Charming. Then there's the technology. Gene Hackman portrays a shady jury consultant who employs a crack team of high-tech engineers using state-of-the-art surveillance gadgetry, quite a bit far-fetched in all but spy cinema. Our superhero, everyman Nick Easter (John Cusack) also possesses savvy skills in order to manipulate his way into the jury pool of his choice, and the psychological people skills necessary to swing a jury at the drop of a hat. Just some of the paper thin sketches of anything resembling plausibility. The film's final message: Manipulating juries is fine if you happen to support the noble good guys who are doing battle against dastardly, evil corporate thugs with thick Southern accents who tie girls up and put them on railroad tracks in between enabling killers to go on shooting rampages. (catches breath) And just in case you STILL miss that message, feast your eyes on Cusack and Rachel Weisz as they celebrate their victory by going to an urban playground and watching young children play (largely ethnic, naturally), gazing into each other's eyes knowing that they have protected the next generation of innocents from those money-hungry villains. Few things are as compelling as a good legal drama -- and I wanted so much for this to be just that, I really wanted to love Runaway Jury. I felt cheated and deceived into watching what appeared to be a courtroom thriller. There was little courtroom -- and those scenes had the tension of the finale in a rom-com. The majority of Runaway Jury focused on its agenda, a poison pen letter to the gun lobby. Political theater is hard enough to avoid, so having it sneak its ugly self in like a trojan horse was the last straw(man). 7 people found this review helpful. ✔︎ Helpful Review?

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