Pretty Good

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Sentence : dullWell, this is a strange movie : the movie starts without exposing the characters and after 30 minutes, i had the feeling that i skipped chapters by errors. They talk about characters and facts that you don't see so it's hard to make an idea to what happens. Then, the pacing was horrible as there is a lot of empty scenes (Harrison's family for example or flashbacks) for which i indeed skipped the chapters to give a punch. The ending was not ending anything and Harrison's final voice over is totally cryptic ! So, for a trial and thriller movie when you need clear, cut things, here it's all about confusion and bad editing ! Harrison acts good but his characters is unbelievable as he seems to be ignorant of his own behavior ! For those who looks for a more convincing trial of injustice, i will recommend Gavras' « Music box »

Alan J. Pakula directed this courtroom drama/mystery based on a Scott Turow novel that stars Harrison Ford as Deputy D.A. Rusty Sabich, who becomes a prime suspect in the murder of a coworker named Carolyn(played by Greta Scacchi) whom he was also having an affair with, despite being happily married to his wife(played by Bonnie Bedelia) He gets respected attorney 'Sandy' Stern(played by Raul Julia) to defend him, and their ensuing investigation leads them to some surprising secrets and motives, though the ultimate truth will hit Rusty close to home... Not bad film certainly has a fine cast and efficient direction, though it's always a pity to see a finely tuned script saddled with too much profanity and seediness. Still worth seeing though.

At the beginning of "Presumed Innocent", Deputy Prosecutor Rusty Sabich (Harrison Ford) reflects on the nature of the criminal justice system and concludes that its procedures produce uncertain results, which in turn, make him wonder, "what is our hope of justice?". Rusty is a hard working and dedicated professional who's highly thought of by his colleagues and his superiors but the idealistic outlook that he possessed early on in his career, has long since been replaced by a far more realistic recognition of the limitations of the system and its capacity for determining correctly who is or isn't guilty.Rusty's boss, County Prosecutor Raymond Horgan (Brian Dennehy) informs him that another member of his staff, a young woman lawyer called Carolyn Polhemus (Greta Scacchi) has been found dead in her apartment and the circumstances suggest that she's been murdered and raped. Horgan is fighting a re-election campaign and is desperately concerned about the political damage he could suffer, especially if the murder case isn't solved quickly. He insists that Rusty take on the investigation and demands that he gives it top priority.Rusty's unable to refuse but is uncomfortable about the job because he'd had an affair with Carolyn who was a beautiful and aggressively ambitious person who ended their relationship when it became clear that continuing with it would not be likely to bring any further advancements in her career. Despite everything that had happened, Rusty remained totally obsessed with Carolyn.When Nico Della Guardia (Tom Mardirosian) wins the election, Rusty is taken off the investigation and suddenly finds himself charged with the murder as Della Guardia's investigator, Tommy Molto (Joe Grifasi), discovers a number of pieces of evidence that all seem to point to Rusty's guilt. Rusty hires brilliant defense attorney Sandy Stern (Raul Julia) to represent him but when the trial begins the prosecution's case appears to be very strong. As it progresses, however, a number of the people involved find that their integrity is called into question before the case reaches its very sudden and unexpected conclusion."Presumed Innocent" is an incredibly absorbing murder mystery with a brooding atmosphere that's enhanced visually by Gordon Willis' shadowy cinematography. Alan J Pakula's deliberate pacing generates a great deal of tension and the acting style is often very restrained and ambiguous. This makes some of the characters seem interesting but also difficult to read.Harrison Ford gives a masterful performance as someone whose experiences have left him totally jaded and whose profession has taught him how to be very controlled, even under extreme pressure. None of this, however, helps him in any way to cope with the awful combination of emotions that he feels at the end of the movie, by which time, he's overwhelmed with regret over his own failures as well as profound feelings of loss and guilt.Brian Dennehy, Greta Scacchi and Raul Julia all make their characters believable and memorable and Bonnie Bedelia is excellent as Rusty's wife, who despite his infidelity, never doubts his innocence and continues to support him strongly throughout his trial."Presumed Innocent" is a wonderfully thought provoking movie as it shows so clearly an example of the flawed nature of the justice system and the levels of suffering it brings to some of the characters who also have their own secrets and flaws.

Alan J. Pakula, known primarily for his conspiracy movies ("Klute", "The Parallax View", "Rollover", "The Pelican Brief", "All the President's Men"), directs "Presumed Innocent", a very good if somewhat conventional courtroom drama.The film stars Harrison Ford as a talented prosecutor who becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a colleague with whom he had an adulterous affair. The film's first act is very slow, its second act is a fun exercise in paranoia, courtroom pyrotechnics and dispensed red herrings, and the film's climax is excellent, until, of course, Pakula's real killer is revealed. Films like this rely heavily on misdirection. The audience likes to be kept guessing. It's difficult to then reveal the killer and not have your audience feel somewhat cheated.Like many of Pakula's films, "Presumed Innocent" maintains an ominous tone throughout, and there is always the feeling of off screen characters plotting, conspiring and moving our heroes about like pawns. The film was part of a wave ("Fatal Attraction", "Final Analysis", "Basic Instinct", "Jade", "Disclosure", "Single White Female", "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle", "The Last Seduction", "Body Heat", "After Dark My Sweet" etc) of psycho-sexual thrillers which exhibited a new breed of femme fatale. Hilariously, while these films unconsciously exhibited a fear of female independence, women and a threat to traditional female gender roles, male action heroes around this time (1980s, early 90s) were responding by getting ridiculously muscular, physical, phallic and barbaric, desperately hoping to cling to fading notions of traditional masculinity. Today, everyone's metrosexual. You can't even conceive of a "Fatal Attraction" being released and making money today. An angry, murderous wife? Oh my goodness, why didn't the husband recognise the warning signs, take the kids and leave? 7.5/10 – Like most directors who did their best work in the 70s, Pakula's latter output struggles to juggle art, commerce, personal taste and popcorn expectations. Worth one viewing.