by George Young
Cynicism. Not the finest of human traits. However, a manageable dose of it helps when undertaking reviews of creative product. Symphony concertos. Broadway plays. Jazz performances. Books. Television. Anything with the influence of the right brain is the subject of scrutiny, subjectivity, and scorn.
Professional and amateur movie and TV critics are known to be anything but forgiving. That has softened over the years due to the ongoing desire to gain “access” to stars, studio heads, and A-List directors. Some films and shows are given positive reviews simply to make Hollywood stars open to interview. Those who prefer the truth, as best it can be proffered, do miss the days of a brutal send-up by Rex Reed. Or, even better, a hilarious takedown by Gene Shalit, mustache and all.
There are entertainment ventures which legitimately intoxicate. Those that transcend the mundane and surpass the formulaic. When that occurs, the experience stays with the audience, sometimes forever. For the benefit of all, cynicism took the day off when Juror #2, Clint Eastwood’s latest directorial effort had its opening night, November 1, 2024.
Clint is 94 years old, and, if anything, his deft touch helming feature films continues to get better. Juror #2, if at least not nominated for Best Picture, and Mr. Eastwood for Best Director, should enjoy enormous box office success. That’s if the viewing public is more predisposed to venturing out to see movies in the theater, and the Hollywood executives don’t shy away from such grand adult fare.
Juror #2 is the epitome of the ultimate cinematic experience.
The elements which make up a hit film are many—casting, cinematography, script, production design, and, of course, directing. A full review of Eastwood’s lean and effective individual brilliance would fill an entire column. There are so many fine moments captured by an eye (and an ear) with more than seventy years in front of and behind the camera. His Lifetime Achievement Award by the Academy in 2013 is well-deserved. Perhaps another one is owed?
Juror #2 is the tale of Justin Kemp, played by the versatile uber-talented Nicholas Hoult. He is a reformed alcoholic with a very pregnant wife, the heart-breakingly fragile Zoey Deutch. Justin manages to get himself selected for jury duty on a homicide case.
The trial begins. Gabriel Basso stars as the defendant, James Sythe. He’s a gang-affiliated, tatted-up tough guy, accused of murdering his girlfriend, the way too sexy, Kendall Carter, who is played by Francesca Eastwood (yes). Seems they had an argument at the local roadhouse and she stormed out. A day later her badly beaten and broken body is found in a culvert off the main road. Sythe is arrested. He claims to be innocent.
Justin Kemp is also at the roadhouse that night, staring at a drink. He manages to get out of the bar without touching it and heads home in a heavy rainstorm on that same main road. It is late at night. He strikes a deer. Or does he? As the prosecution, led by the still underrated Toni Collette, presents its evidence, Kemp realizes what he hit that dark evening may have been Kendall.
The jury deliberates.
Not only is the first half of the film an exercise in clever incrementalism, but the second half is a clinic on moral conflict as Kemp channels Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men (1957). He cannot, in proverbial good conscience, send an innocent man to jail. But he also cannot abandon his wife, who pulled him out of his alcoholism and gave him a second chance at life.
Kemp doesn’t want to confess to the crime. His attorney, Kiefer Sutherland in an excellent star turn, informs Kemp that he may go to prison for the rest of his life. There is no jury on planet Earth which won’t convict a so-called reformed alcoholic who left the scene of a hit-and-run. Kemp works the jury room, but to what end?
A hung jury necessitates a re-trial. The anxiety and guilt will only increase. But they are deadlocked. A life preserver is thrown to Kemp by JK Simmons, another member of the twelve. He is a former detective, who investigates the crime on his own, a big no-no.
Kemp tosses the life preserver away. He is on his own and must decide the fate of an innocent man, an innocent wife, an innocent baby, and his own guilty self. The film does resolve the issue and someone will die in prison.
But who?
George W. Young started his professional life in 1979 as a dancer in New York City, where he worked in summer stock and musical theater. He switched to video production in 1984, working on commercials for Fortune 500 companies. He spent the next 30 years working on films such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, Junior, Serendipity, and The Internship. His novels, Draculand (2022) and TIME Blinked (2021), have been published by Celestial Echo Press.
Image credits: feature by Arthur Hinton; shadowed man by devn. Want more? Go to Robert Brancatelli. The Brancatelli Blog is a member of The Free Media Alliance, which promotes “alternatives to software, culture, and hardware monopolies.”
