The Jury
The Jury
| 17 February 2002 (USA)
SEASON & EPISODES
  • 2
  • 1
  • Reviews
    RipDelight

    This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

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    SanEat

    A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

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    Marva-nova

    Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

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    Sarita Rafferty

    There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

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    kagreenizen

    I am a self-professed Law&Order/police and law procedural junkie. I am also a BBC-ophile; and though I confess to having found out about this miniseries because I looked up Gerard Butler's profile, I recognized many, many of the actors from years of watching Brit cinema and television.I would have watched it because of the subject matter. I would happily have watched it because of the magnificent cast. Either reason is enough, but the brilliance and realism of the writing drew me right into the experience as well. I found myself having conversations with the screen during key scenes with several characters.Derek Jacobi is mesmerizing as the defense QC; Mark Maloney as the jury foreman and Nicholas Farrell as the juror who lost everything playing the market were very effecting; I think, though, that for sheer emotional power that this is Gerard Butler's finest performance to date. I have seen many of his other roles and he's very fine, but this role shows more dimension and emotive depth than his usual hero/warriors. Mark Strong and Helen McRory are also splendid as a married couple with problems. I could continue with praise for the entire cast, I didn't see a poor or superfluous performance among them.I have tried strenuously to avoid spoilers.... I just hate that need to ruin it for the next person! If you love good writing and acting, this is worth the trouble to track it down.

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    flosamuels

    The shame is that the first user comment anyone sees when reviewing The Jury is "Political Correctness (ya-aawwwn)", a review, if it can be called that, that more reflects someone with a beef taking a Political Science course and needing to use all the big words they learned to show how smart they are. While we all have the right to voice our opinion, I strongly feel this right should not prejudice the reader (or stop them, as it will some) before they see reviews that are more valuable. Any review that has one yes against multiple no's should be at the bottom of the review list.Be that as it may, I have come to the Gerard Butler scene late (January, 2006) and because his acting ability struck me immediately and I'm interested in his progress (and why I hadn't heard of him until now), I've been watching his work. Doing that, I've come across some great movies (and a few that weren't so great). The Jury is in the great category.I'm not going to describe the film, others have done so but I do want to note that the characters lives were well depicted. The frequent use of closeups made me feel like I was standing right next to each person, seeing what he or she saw, feeling what he or she felt. It was an awesome experience. I only buy a video/DVD if it has meaning and makes me feel something, hence I only have about 75 and this is over the past 20 years. I bought The Jury.

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    Ishallwearpurple

    Has anyone mentioned the music score for this? From the first shot of the courthouse dome, melancholy music perfectly sets the mood for what will come.The Eastern (or Indian) theme and the drum at the beginning credits is haunting. During the seminary scenes, the mens choral is lovely.Throughout a woman hums a beautiful, sad melody, through certain transition scenes and always at the opening of a new chapter. Whenever juror, Johnny Donne, is alone this theme emphasizes his loneliness and breaks your heart. A number of times we see Johnny arriving home and walking down a long corridor and opening his door, with this lonely theme playing. His AA prayer also has the music softly in the background.During the Rose characters arrival back home each time, we see her getting off the elevator and walking into a blinding white light - to give us a jolt of the searing effort to walk back into that house of pain. The orchestra with an oboe(?) featured makes one want to cry.During the foreman of the juries final scenes of frenzy in the tunnel the Indian song is just perfect - the wail and lament of a man driven to distraction.And as the jurors all walk down the hill after the burial, the same woman humming the theme music makes for a melancholy finale.For the performances, the great cinematography, and wonderful music themes, this a rare series from television that is as great as a movie. Gerald Butler as Johnny is a standout - so intense at times you quit breathing. I've forgotten the name of the actor who plays the Foreman of the jury, but he is also outstanding. The whole cast is superb.A real jewel for anyones collection. 9/10

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    Piafredux

    Despite its fine acting 'The Jury' is just one more program/script driven by the twin Leftist (or Marxisant) orthodoxies of its time: political correctness and so-called "multiculturalism." In this film all the women and non-whites struggle valiantly, and all of them are depicted either as victims of "Eurocentric" white male culture, or as struggling valiantly to overcome their troubles (which, of course, devolve from their having been victimized by white men); and, conversely, all the white men (with the exception of the sensitive one who's working through his priestly vocation or lack thereof) are shown as neurotic, self-absorbed, inept (owing to their inability to see beyond their "whiteness" and maleness and the horrible, oppressive cultures flowing from those two characteristics) muddlers too insensible or witless to see their "issues," let alone to deal decisively or positively with them. Even the recovering alcoholic sod has to pay for the sins of his alcoholism which is, after all - as the Foucaults and gender feminists of the world tell us, a male affliction since men first concocted firewater and they're the ones who swill it and then abuse women while they're under its evil influence. The baleful mother-in-law archetype is absent herein, replaced by the male Jewish juror's veddy British, old school tie, overbearing father-in-law with whose prejudice, inveigling and meddling the muddled juror, of course - according to the PC/Leftist/feminist orthodoxy, cannot deal (his wife, of course, gets it right from the start and never wavers, pillar of feminist strength that she is).The other men in the film are the father of the murdered schoolboy and his thuggish, vengeful male relatives - the lot of them, of course since they're men, being shown to be prejudiced, vindictive, reptilian, and contemptible. And then there are the lawyers, who are mere mouthpieces for orthodox inflammatory buzzwords, gaffes, and provocations: the sort of innuendo and screed which nowadays monotonously accompany wife-abuse and sexual harassment accusations which, quite often without a case's ever going to court, are often sufficient in themselves to ruin men's reputations and careers.In sum: spare me, and the world, 'The Jury's' "postmodern" orthodox sort of preachiness. If I want to see and hear - and endure - this kind of Leftist re-education camp lecturing I can tune into BBC World - at least there, because the anchors and reporters haven't a script or the device of acting to hide behind, I can see the sneers on their permanently upturned lips.

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