Justice (1999)

Waste of time

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

When I was out DVD shopping, I found this film advertised on its cover as a James Belushi mole-in-prison movie (undercover cop looking to break a crime boss) and with the likes of HenrySilva, JoBeth Williams and Charles Durning, I was expecting a fairly decent film despite only paying £1 for it.This however was one of those marketing con-jobs trying to promote a fairly awful TV movie which starred Tracey Needham (who looks a bit like Maggie Grace of the TV series Lost)as a prosecutor being hunted down by the Colombian mafia for sending down their boss.James Belushi's role is nothing more than a cameo.The film rushes in at 100 mph with the "prison" part over in a matter of 4 minutes and it can't make its mind up whether its a TV pilot, a violent b-movie or a very bad black comedy. Ironically the film tends to drag at the end which is tedious at best.I've never seen so many good actors wasted like this especially with James Belushi given little to do. The plot is ridiculous and the ending pathetic.The movie is a bomb and I can only assume that the aforementioned actors were stuck for work when this came along.Avoid if you can.

If you wanna be sarcastic this movie gives you more than one chance : (Tracey Needham) was taller and bigger than everybody !, (Charles Durning) was a 76 years old cop !?? having that one titan paunch ! So how in god's name he could manage to ride the motorcycle at the end being disguised as one of the road's patrol !!??, (James Belushi) was shorter than (Needham) so I bet they made him stand on something while he was kissing her ! Not to mention that he looked older than her too !!, and the nice loving cop (Patrick Ersgard) seemed all the time like (Tom Green)'s look-alike !?. Well, despite the fact that nearly all of them delivered such a wonderful performance yet all of them with-each-others had weak chemistry or some kind of disharmony ! On the other hand, the script was very good with the smart thrilling treatment for its main case, and those many points of view about justice (blind as helpless, or half blind to let us fulfill it by other ways than the law !) with strong characters, conflict, and some clever lines too (mostly for the character of the old detective Moe Ryan/Durning). But it wasn't that excellent too because some reasons; one of them is the hastiness. For big instance : the love story between the undercover officer (Belushi) and the hunted lawyer (Needham) was very fabricated ! Just 2 or 3 scenes with a dialogue about perfection and fighting for justice, then a night in bed !? (WAW if only life was like this !). Without any sort of deliberation, I think it wasn't a big problem for them to add some more scenes or dialogues to convince the characters so to convince us. And for small instance : considering the condition of (Durning)'s age and belly; why didn't they make him a retired detective who works now as private eye ?!, then look at the scenes of (Jobeth Williams) they were shot all in her office; that's boring if you ask me, moreover too damn TV for the cinematic sense of the story ! The direction handled the subject well but what is it with all of those strange cuts like an old movie from the 1940s or the old Star Wars' movies ! I didn't like it as a goofy element compared to the whole thing !. While the music was loyal to the atmosphere especially at the start it didn't keep up with the heat of the movie's rest. The lighting was generally excessive which made the image a dully shiny white for most of the time ! And finally that bullheaded determination to film maybe everything in close-ups as another typical TV movie ??! As if somebody will sue them if they did anything more !? I must admit that there were some exceptional factors like (Charles Durning)'s lovable performance (even his Rambo's war scream at the shooting was lively & harmonic), the beauty of (Tracey Needham); actually she was extremely sweet, dazzlingly fascinating, and madly sexy in a way I've never seen her whether before or after ! Like a rare mix of Meg Ryan, Melanie Griffith, and Marilyn Monroe yet in a very serious shape ! It's an old custom of mine to read the subtitles, but whenever there was a scene of her I didn't care about anything but her face !, and eventually this very script which could've been made for the big screen indeed (with the expensive stars, the nude sex scene !, couple of smashing explosives, and maybe a slick twist at the end !) Though this movie is a nice entertaining one with fair acting, well-done thrill, an acrid satire, and not completely having that easy happy ending also whereas the basic 2 drugs' lords ran away at last so justice (by the law or by bare hands) is not entirely perfect ! They wanted a TV night movie and they made one so justly. However if you felt a little frustration after watching then that's because your own belief that this movie wasn't quite just to its powerful potentials; they deserve more than that customary TV work.

This is really bad!Even for a tv movie,why is James Belushi getting star billing and on the front cover?He is in the film for like about 7 minutes total and on the front cover he is in a prison,he is actually in a prison for about 1 minute of the film.This is a blatant marketing scam to get people watching it because of James Belushi in it.The film itself is awfull even though I paid £5 for it.The one good thing about it is the leading lady who is very attractive,AVOID.

All films must necessarily proceed from the script. When the script is drawn from the Collected Cliches of North America and the largest line item on the budget is cocaine acquisition, the result must be worth far less than the life force used to view it. The only good thing I can say about this movie is that Tracey Needham is pleasant to look at once she wipes off the Marilyn Monroe makeup.