Today I revisited Runaway Jury. A movie I haven't seen since it came out on DVD back in the days. Being another John Cusack movie it was just a matter of time I guess, and much like on my first visit Runaway Jury is a solid court room drama thriller in John Grisham's usual way. Because this is a movie based on a John Grisham novel, like The Firm, The Client, The Pelican Brief, The Rainmaker and a several others both before and later. Grisham is the attorney author with credibility, authenticity and nerve.
When you add actors like Cusack, Rachel Weisz, Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman to a script based on a Grisham novel, you're in for the best the genre has to offer. This time his focus is on the jury advisors, a hi-jacked jury and in the background the gun industry as the big money issue like tobacco companies have been used before in others.
This movie won't blow your mind. It never really picks up pace. It's not filled with twists and turns. Still it holds your interest for more than two hours, and it does so because it gives a little twist on the way it looks at the American jury system. It gives some insight into the research on potential jurors in big money cases, the manipulations behind the scene and there's a lot of interesting stuff worth doing on that focus.
The lack of twists, action and such makes this a movie you need the ability to lean back and enjoy for the other stuff. You must enjoy good character acting, the subtle ways of the court room and the masterminding of the puppet show. If you're that kind of a viewer, Runaway Jury is a treat. Of course because of the limitations within this genre, it'll never be made a movie scoring higher than 12 Angry Men. It's just not possible to elevate this kind of movie beyond it, but this is a good attempt.
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