These days, when a movie directed by Clint Eastwood is released the question always comes up “Is it his last movie?” Personally, I feel very conflicted about that.
On the one hand, the man is 94 years old. He’s been acting and directing for almost 50 years (according to IMDB his first role was in a movie called “Francis in the Navy” in 1955). He deserves to retire and take it easy. Especially since Warner Bros – the studio that released all the movies he’s directed (I believe) – seems to not like working with him as much as they used to. They were reports that the studio was disappointed with his last movie – “Cry Macho” which made hardly any money at the box office – so they wanted to release this new movie on their MAX streaming platform without a theatrical run. They apparently forgot about his other AWARD-WINNING movies. Eventually, the studio decided to give the movie a very small theatrical release (less than 50 theaters) with almost no advertising or promotion except for the premiere at AFI Fest. There will not be a wider release in the future. Some people speculate that Eastwood was so upset with the release plans he skipped the premiere.
On the other hand, if Clint Eastwood retired then there would be fewer good adult dramas like his new movie – “Juror #2”. This courtroom drama has a couple scenes that may remind you of a previous courtroom movie – “12 Angry Men”, but if you’re looking for very big courtroom scenes like scenes in “A Few Good Men”, “My Cousin Vinny”, or “Philadelphia”, you won’t find it in this movie. The courtroom in this movie is a bit more realistic.
The movie starts with Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) hoping that he won’t get selected for a jury when he shows up for jury duty because he’d prefer to be home with his wife (Zoey Deutch) who has a complicated pregnancy because her previous pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. Unfortunately, he ends up getting selected for a murder trial that is very high-profile because the prosecutor (Toni Collette) is hoping to be elected District Attorney in the upcoming election (the movie happens to be released around the same time the movie’s plot happens. You see children trick-or-treating in the movie and the movie opened in theaters the day after Halloween).
As the court case progresses, Justin gets more concerned due to his possible connection to the case. He remembers being in the bar on the rainy night the defendant (Gabriel Basso) and his girlfriend (Francesca Eastwood) were last seen before the alleged murder, he drove home along the same route that the murder occurred, and he hit something – he thought it was a deer – on his way home. Things get even more complicated when he speaks to his sponsor at alcoholics anonymous who is a lawyer (Kiefer Sutherland). The lawyer tells him that if he says anything then he will probably be convicted of the crime due to his previous convictions (he got a DUI several years before) even if he didn’t kill the woman.
All the acting in the movie is top notch including the defendants’ lawyer (Chris Messina) the other jury members (which includes JK Simmons and Leslie Bibb), Toni Collette, and especially Nicholas Hoult and Zoey Deutch who are very afraid she’ll end up alone with the baby if he goes to jail. Also, the editing in the movie keeps the movie going at a good pace. In the trial, it cuts back and forth from the prosecutors’ statements or questioning witnesses to the defense attorney doing the same thing. It’s a lot smoother than showing them one at a time.
The only thing I think would have been a good addition to this movie would be the detectives that investigated the case. They lawyers mention them briefly (“they never looked at anyone else”, “they showed the witness only one 1 photo”) but I think it would have been interested to hear their version of the investigation.
If “Juror #2” turns out to be the final movie that Clint Eastwood makes, I would be OK with that – other than Clint Eastwood not appearing in the movie (I would like him to act in 1 more movie, please). However, it would mean he career ends on a somewhat low note. He’s a movie icon. He deserves more than a very small theatrical release with hardly any marketing. This movie also deserves more than that.
Overall: 8 out of 10
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 