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#667 - Primal Fear
Gregory Hoblit, 1996
When an archbishop is brutally murdered, a high-profile attorney offers to work pro bono to defend the timid young altar-boy suspected of the murder.
On the surface, Primal Fear does not look particularly great. Part of the problem might be that I did know the film's big twist ahead of watching it so of course my perspective was going to be altered as a result. Still, I figured that if the film was good enough then it wouldn't be dependent on the twist. Primal Fear has a fairly simple set-up in that it centres on a renowned clergyman dying a gory death, seemingly at the hands of the mild-mannered altar boy (Edward Norton) who is seen running away from the scene of the crime while covered in blood. Enter Richard Gere as a hotshot lawyer who offers to defend Norton for free, drawing the ire of various players (especially Laura Linney as an ex-girlfriend who ends up taking the opportunity to prosecute Norton in order to spite Gere). Underneath his cocky attitude, Gere sincerely wants to do right by whoever his client is and works with his team in order to either determine Norton's innocence or at least provide a plausible defence in case he really is guilty.
Knowing the final twist does undercut the effect of Primal Fear quite a bit, which is a bit of a shame since there's not that much more to the proceedings. There's a decent collection of actors in the mix to elevate this very standard material. Norton earned an Oscar nomination for his turn as the extremely unlikely prime suspect who does more than just play a mumbly hayseed, while Gere proves reasonably convincing as a lawyer whose superficial smarminess hides some surprising depth. The rest of the cast is serviceable enough as they play a number of extremely rote roles such as the no-nonsense judge (Alfre Woodard), the vindictive prosecutor (Linney), Gere's put-upon assistants (Maura Tierney and Andre Braugher), or even the businessman (John Mahoney) with a vested interest in seeing Norton die. Unfortunately, the solid cast is basically all that the film really has going for it as it proceeds through a none-too-remarkable blend of legal drama and psychological thriller that hasn't aged all that well.
Gregory Hoblit, 1996
When an archbishop is brutally murdered, a high-profile attorney offers to work pro bono to defend the timid young altar-boy suspected of the murder.
On the surface, Primal Fear does not look particularly great. Part of the problem might be that I did know the film's big twist ahead of watching it so of course my perspective was going to be altered as a result. Still, I figured that if the film was good enough then it wouldn't be dependent on the twist. Primal Fear has a fairly simple set-up in that it centres on a renowned clergyman dying a gory death, seemingly at the hands of the mild-mannered altar boy (Edward Norton) who is seen running away from the scene of the crime while covered in blood. Enter Richard Gere as a hotshot lawyer who offers to defend Norton for free, drawing the ire of various players (especially Laura Linney as an ex-girlfriend who ends up taking the opportunity to prosecute Norton in order to spite Gere). Underneath his cocky attitude, Gere sincerely wants to do right by whoever his client is and works with his team in order to either determine Norton's innocence or at least provide a plausible defence in case he really is guilty.
Knowing the final twist does undercut the effect of Primal Fear quite a bit, which is a bit of a shame since there's not that much more to the proceedings. There's a decent collection of actors in the mix to elevate this very standard material. Norton earned an Oscar nomination for his turn as the extremely unlikely prime suspect who does more than just play a mumbly hayseed, while Gere proves reasonably convincing as a lawyer whose superficial smarminess hides some surprising depth. The rest of the cast is serviceable enough as they play a number of extremely rote roles such as the no-nonsense judge (Alfre Woodard), the vindictive prosecutor (Linney), Gere's put-upon assistants (Maura Tierney and Andre Braugher), or even the businessman (John Mahoney) with a vested interest in seeing Norton die. Unfortunately, the solid cast is basically all that the film really has going for it as it proceeds through a none-too-remarkable blend of legal drama and psychological thriller that hasn't aged all that well.