Brief Story LIne
Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult - The Menu, Those Who Wish Me Dead etc) got a call for jury duty which he tried to get out of since his wife Allison Crewson (Zoey Deutch - Zombieland: Double Tap, Not Okay etc) was in the last trimester of high risk pregnancy. However the Assistant DA Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette - Nightmare Alley, The Sixth Sense etc) and the public defender Eric Resnick (Chris Messina - Based on a True Story TV series, Air etc) have no objection about him and he was appointed as one of the 12 juries. The case itself was about the murder of a young woman where the accused was her boyfriend James Sythe (Gabriel Basso - The Night Agent TV series, Hillbilly Elegy etc).
During the opening arguments, Justin realized that he might have knowledge of the case that could potentially have impact on the verdict. As he was in dilemmatic position, Justin tried his best to sway other juries decision to his way, though it was very challenging due to strong arguments from few of them. Among the vocal juries were Marcus (Cedric Yarbrough - Unfrosted, Reno 911! TV series etc), Yolanda (Adrienne C. Moore - Orange is the New Black TV series etc) and Harold (J. K. Simmons - The Union, The Accountant etc). As the trial continued, a lot of things happened which also impacted Justin's state of mind.
So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
As a somewhat fan of legal thriller which usually could take a while before getting to the interesting part, I was surprised that this movie did not take too long for us to understand the major problem Justin had to face. And it really made me curious of how it would end which resulted to me fully engaged with the film till finished. This is not a crime drama or a mystery type where little by little clues were revealead cause we roughly now what happened, but intensity was actually on how it would resolve. The way Justin tried to sway the juries opinion were interesting, especially with his moral dilemma.
Obviously the cast did a great job in here with Nicholas Hoult providing a wonderful performance, as well as Toni Collette and Gabriel Basso. But to my opinion, it could not have been done nicely without the directing of Clint Eastwood who was quite prolific in term of making quality films (some were nominated or won major awards such as Sully, American Sniper and few others). The film was written by Jonathan Abrams which was also his original screenplay. Prior to that, he also wrote the musical The Heart of Rock and Roll. I read that the movie was supposed to be a direct-to-stream on Max, but it was later decided to have limited release in the US on 1 November 2024.
In addition to the names I mentioned above, there were also some support cast such as Leslie Bibb (Jupiter's Legacy TV series etc) as Denise the jury foreperson, Amy Aquino (Picket Fences TV series etc) as judge Thelma, Chikako Fukuyama as Keiko the juror and several others as the rest of the juries, plus Kiefer Sutherland (The Contractor, Young Guns etc) as Justin's AA Sponsor Larry who was also a lawyer. There was even a surprise name of Francesca Eastwood (Final Girl etc), the daughter of Clint Eastwood as the victim Kendall Carter.
For a legal thriller, this one was certainly interesting and entertaining. It was well received by critics and was even dubbed as one of the Top 10 films of 2024 by National Board of Review. I myself admired the story telling and the curiosity of finding out how it would end. And to be honest, I had a bit of expectation which sadly did not materialize as the ending seemed a bit ambiguous. I guess Clint Eastwood wanted audience to think for themselves, although I strongly believed it was quite clear looking at the characteristics of the persons.
Overall I think this is a wonderful movie, one that I have not really experienced in quite some time. So if you are fans of legal thriller with a bit of courtroom drama where focus was on the Jury's work to come up with a verdict, and if you like Eastwood's works, then I think you would enjoy this. However, you might not be truly satisfied if you prefer a straight forward conclusion and more intensity/suspense. Btw, I am grateful that the film was made available on Max (previously HBO Go), otherwise I do not believe it would play in Indonesian theaters since such adult oriented drama is not likely general audience favorite.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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