The Juror (1996)

Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

"The Juror" is largely a conventional thriller, and it's also too protracted (113 minutes) for its one-note story, but it's professionally done, and elevated by a very good cast. As the villain, Alec Baldwin gets to chew the scenery at times, but at other moments he gives his role an almost disturbing complexity; when he tells Demi's character that he loves her, despite the monstrous things he has done, you believe him. A deglamorized Demi Moore is convincing, and then we have James Gandolfini as Baldwin's family-man associate, Anne Heche as Moore's best friend, Tony Lo Bianco as a Mafia boss, and others in smaller parts. They make this otherwise predictable studio product worth seeing. **1/2 out of 4.

I'm surprised at the low IMDb rating for this film, because I think it's one of the better suspense films to be made. Perhaps it's because Demi Moore has lost her popularity, but this is a film to be savored.The overall script is pretty believable -- a mob boss is going to trial for murder, and Moore is the one juror his compatriots select to tamper with. Unfortunately, they choose a rather sick and obsessed colleague to deal with her -- Alec Baldwin. Moore succumbs to their threats in order to protect her son. Baldwin develops an obsessive love for Moore, and will do ANYTHING to have his way with her. After she "throws" the trial, Baldwin is not done with Moore...or her son. The climactic scene is especially taut.Demi Moore is great here...one of her best roles. Alec Baldwin, however, makes the film as the sleazy and obsessed lover/killer...he's truly evil here! James Gandolfini is pretty average as a gang member. Joseph Gordon-Levitt shines as the young son; he was a comer even as a child star (and his potential is more obvious today). Anne Heche...well, I never saw the attraction...and still don't. Tony Lo Bianco was good as the crime boss. Although his role was small, it was nice to see Michael Constantine as the judge.The exotic finale in Guatemala is an added treat.Highly recommended! A strong "7".

Excellent: Demi Moore, cinematography. The suspense-parts are generally well done, for example where it is not clear whether the boy on the bicycle will be killed or not. General plot: Unfortunately the genre where the good person does nothing right and the bad person does nothing wrong. And innocent friends also get killed in the process. Then suddenly in the last 5 minutes the good person amasses incredible logistics and action, and the bad guy dies. Better would have been some more intellectual input throughout the film from the heroin, such as that she gradually finds out where he hid microphones, and realises that he has her address list, and so warns her friends what is going on.

It's crazy, basically we have a decent genre plot here and some more than capable actors to play the roles but the movie makes some wrong choices, that often turn this movie into a silly one and therefore also a quite bad one.Not that the movie was very original to begin with but at least it showed some potential with its story. It's the sort of concept that should turn the movie in a decent thriller to watch. For its first halve or so it also is a quite watchable movie but then some of the twists and turns start to kick in. The movie could had gone into many different ways with its story but yet it picks the least likely ones and for some odd reason the movie toward the end becomes more of an action flick than a thriller really. The characters were being all still quite credible in the first halve but in the second halve we see them all doing things that completely ruins some of the credibility they had build up in the first halve.Further more it's pretty much a movie by the number, without any real surprises in it, despite of the twists and turns the movie is taking. It's one of those '90's thrillers that try to look more clever than they in fact really are. On top of that '90's movies all tend to have the same visual look and feeling to it, which just isn't the most compelling thing. In terms of style the '90's was one of the worst, if not the worst, decade for movies. Like a lot of thrillers from those days the movie has a pretty solid cast, with some well known names in it, like Demi Moore, Alec Baldwin, Anne Heche and James Gandolfini. Also child-actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a quite popular grown up actor these days, with his most recent roles in movies such as "(500) Days of Summer" and "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra".Not really a great thriller that is worth watching but also far from the worst that you'll ever see.5/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/