Stunning.
I really really loved this movie. For one thing, it's extremely interesting and your eyes are glued to the screen. At certain points I was leaning towards the tv with my hands on my mouth, unable to look away. It's really engrossing and it's extremely entertaining to watch. You constantly want to know what's going to happen next. It's also a great courtroom movie. If you love the murder mystery, or the courtroom drama, or even the psychological thriller, you will probably love this movie. I really liked this movie, but I had a few problems with it.
Richard Gere was pretty good in this movie. I've never quite seen him as an above average actor, but he was good in this. At times I feel like the story concentrated on his character too much, and his character wasn't extremely interesting either. He seems like a normal defense attorney throughout the movie, albeit a good defense attorney. While I didn't care for too many scenes of his character outside the courtroom, the scenes of him in the courtroom are great. The argumentative dialogue is great and when he is in the courtroom he is mesmerizing. At times you feel like he really is a defense attorney in real life. So basically he's great in the courtroom scenes, and just ok in the other scenes.
Laura Linney is really good in this film. I thought she did a great job arguing against Gere in the courtroom scenes, and outside the courtroom scenes she does a good job of showing how stressed out she is. You can see that she is slightly nervous to be going head to head against Gere in the courtroom, even though she doesn't want to show it and wants to keep a confident disposition. Laura Linney is really good in this movie and does a great job playing a strong female character.
Saving the best for last. It's hard to put Norton's performance in this movie into words, but I'll certainly try. Edward Norton is PHENOMENAL in this movie. Every second he is onscreen he gives an amazing performance. At times, he's nervous, awkward and soft spoken. But at other times he's intimidating loud and not nervous at all. He plays both with amazing ease and seeing him go back and forth between these vastly different emotions flawlessly is amazing. I just wish he had more screen time. Edward Norton is what makes this movie great. He's the reason I watched it and I was not dissapointed. The only part that dissapointed me about Norton's performance is there's not enough of it, and he needs way more screen time in this film. If nothing else, see this for Norton's performance.
There were times when the movie felt a bit emotionally unstable. Going from great interrogation scenes with Norton where we see great acting, to a clumsy chase scene is a bit jarring. There are some "action" scenes I guess you could say, but they don't come off right. Also, the final twist is a bit predictable, but I was still stunned by it. It makes you think.
All in all, I absolutely loved Primal Fear. Mostly just for Norton's performance, but the courtroom scenes are great and there's some cool twists and turns. Gere was good in the court scenes and ok in the other scenes. Laura Linney is great throughout. There's some clumsy "action" scenes and Norton definately didn't have enough screen time, but I suppose I can overlook that because Primal Fear had me entertained with my eyes glued to the screen throughout. I highly recommend it and would gladly watch it again.
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Glad you liked it.
