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Opening in theaters on November 1st is ‘Juror #2,’ directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Kiefer Sutherland, J.K. Simmons, Zoey Deutch, Cedric Yarbrough, and Chris Messina.

Related Article: Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette to Star in Clint Eastwood’s ‘Juror #2’

Initial Thoughts

If ‘Juror #2,’ the 40th film directed by Clint Eastwood, is indeed the 94-year-old screen legend’s final offering, it doesn’t play like the work of someone with one foot out the soundstage door. While it doesn’t make an airtight case for itself, ‘Juror #2’ is an absorbing courtroom thriller and moral melodrama, in which two men with everything to lose in a homicide case feel the screws tightening around them – but only one knows the truth.

While Eastwood has had his ups and downs with his last few films – ‘Cry Macho’ was thin at best, while ‘Richard Jewell’ was terrific and ‘The Mule’ was somewhere in between – ‘Juror #2’ is in many ways the filmmaker at his best, with sturdy, no-nonsense direction, rich cinematography (from Yves Bélanger), and a nuanced story brought to life by a stacked cast. But the script by Jonathan Abrams admittedly has some pretty large holes in it as well, and labors to gloss them over with varying degrees of success. That it still manages to be a gripping, old-fashioned courtroom potboiler is a testament to a crafty filmmaker who still knows how to tell a story efficiently.

Story and Direction

“We’re only as sick as our secrets,” says a sponsor at the AA meeting attended by Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult), a journalist, recovering alcoholic and soon-to-be-dad who’s hoping to get out of jury duty in his mid-sized Georgia town so that he can be ready to help his wife Allison (Zoey Deutch) when their baby arrives. But Justin ends up being selected for what seems to be a cut-and-dried case: reformed drug dealer James Michael Sythe (Gabriel Basso) is accused of murdering his girlfriend Kendall (Francesca Eastwood) in a rage after she storms out of a bar on a rainy night after they have a fight.

Except that it turns out Justin himself has a whopper of a secret; without giving away too much, he realizes not long into the trial that he is connected to the case in a deeply troubling manner. How he ascertains this – and how his connection comes about in the first place – is the first spot where Jonathan Abrams’ screenplay strains credibility, especially as other key figures like prosecutor Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette) and public defender Eric Resnick (Chris Messina) seem to miss what is staring them right in the face.

But even with the script’s implausibilities (others of which come to the fore later as well), many more aspects of the film keep the viewer hooked and the drama moving forward. Drawing on elements of ‘Rashomon’ and, of course, ’12 Angry Men,’ Justin takes on the role of lone holdout, gradually chipping away at some of the other jurors’ initial impulse to immediately convict. One of those other jurors is Harold (J.K. Simmons), who has a secret of his own but also a burgeoning sense that not all is right with the case. He decides to look deeper on his own – although that leads to another of those pesky plot holes.

Nevertheless, the movie is never less than compelling, as Eastwood’s unobtrusive filmmaking and mostly uncluttered way with narrative keep the suspense and tension high. The film also touches on a number of issues, including the nature of truth, the requirements and morality of law enforcement, and the very concept of justice itself (“sometimes the truth isn’t justice,” intones someone near the end), although it never quite gives them their full day in court. This is a melodrama after all. And although the jury’s out on whether the ending works – it plays out in stages, almost a montage, instead of a cathartic climactic scene — the final open-ended image is a haunting one.

The Cast

Nicholas Hoult – who’s set for major roles in ‘Nosferatu’ later this year and ‘Superman’ next summer – has been building an impressive body of work since we first saw him in ‘About a Boy.’ As a leading man here, he’s nothing short of terrific, believably portraying a young man, haunted by his own demons, who’s been putting his life in order and is now ready to do anything to protect what he’s built. He and Zoey Deutch have a nice, natural rhythm together as a married couple, and Deutch’s turn from chipper mom-to-be to a woman slowly realizing that the ground could abruptly slide out from under her is organically handled.

It’s a credit to wonderful actors like J.K. Simmons, Toni Collette, and Chris Messina that they can take some thinly-drawn characters and make them breathe. Simmons fares the best, as a man with a true moral compass, but he also sort of vanishes from the story long before it ends. Collette and Messina both draw sympathetic portraits of friends who are also opponents and understand each other’s motivations, although their lives seem confined to the courthouse and the local bar (a subplot about Collette running for district attorney seems tacked on as well). As for the rest of the jurors, only Cedric Yarbrough makes a lasting impression as Marcus. And Kiefer Sutherland is wasted as a lawyer whose only purpose is to provide two scenes’ worth of exposition for Hoult.

Final Thoughts

The greatest crime about ‘Juror #2’ is the way it’s coming out: Warner Bros. Pictures plans to open the film on no more than 50 screens, after initially earmarking it for a streaming debut on Max. It seems like an ignominious way to play off Clint Eastwood, whose career and accomplishments with the studio – both in terms of awards and box office – stretch back for decades. But it’s a different world now.

What makes it just as inexplicable is that ‘Juror #2,’ despite its flaws, is a fine film. Unlike some other veteran filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese, who have recently attempted grand statements with very uneven success, Eastwood’s unfussy, straightforward movies mostly tend to hit their mark and deliver the kind of high-end, well-made adult drama that once would have packed auditoriums. It’s a shame that studio marketing departments seem no longer capable of presenting these sturdy, entertaining films to a public that might still enjoy them. If ‘Juror #2’ does end up being Clint Eastwood’s sign-off, then he’s guilty as hell of retiring in style.

‘Juror #2’ receives 7.5 out of 10 stars.

What is the plot of ‘Juror #2’?

A husband and father-to-be (Nicholas Hoult) is selected to be on the jury for a high-profile homicide trial, only to realize that he has a tremendous – and potentially dangerous – conflict of interest. Now he must decide on the right course of action before it’s too late and justice is not served.

Who is in the cast of ‘Juror #2’?

• Nicholas Hoult as Justin Kemp
• Toni Collette as Faith Killebrew
• Chris Messina as Eric Resnick
• Zoey Deutch as Allison Kemp
• Kiefer Sutherland as Larry Lasker
• J. K. Simmons as Harold
• Leslie Bibb as Denice
• Cedric Yarbrough as Marcus

Other Movies Directed by Clint Eastwood:

• ‘Unforgiven‘ (1992)
• ‘The Bridges of Madison County‘ (1995)
• ‘Mystic River‘ (2003)
• ‘Million Dollar Baby‘ (2005)
• ‘Gran Torino‘ (2008)
• ‘Hereafter‘ (2010)
• ‘J. Edgar‘ (2011)
• ‘Jersey Boys‘ (2014)
• ‘American Sniper‘ (2015)
• ‘Sully‘ (2016)
• ‘The Mule‘ (2018)
• ‘The 15:17 to Paris‘ (2018)
• ‘Richard Jewell‘ (2019)

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