12 Angry Men's review

Rating: 9/10 (16 April 2018)

"Twelve Angry Men" was one of the best movies I have watched. Even though it was filmed almost half a century ago, the movie was extremely engaging and constantly put its audience in suspense. The movie is about how 12 American jurors came together to decide whether Rican, a teenager was guilty of murdering his abusive father. The rule of the court was that if that there is a reasonable doubt, the boy would be not "guilty". At the beginning, Juror 8 was all alone in believing that the boy may not be guilty. The story then progresses when Juror 8 starts to use different tactics to win over the other Jurors. Personally, I was constantly awed and amazed by Juror 8's charisma and clever techniques. It was highly satisfying when Juror 8 were able to find "flaws" in seemingly impeccable concrete evidence, turning tables around. For instance, he re-enacted the testimony of the old man and proved that given the old man's walking speed, it is not possible for him to witness the boy running off. The movie was also highly captivating because all 12 actors were able to portray each juror and their unique personality very well, making the story highly realistic. For example, both Juror 8's charismatic personality and Juror 3 emotional and hostile personality were well played by the actors. Hence, even though the setting was simple, the story line and actors made this movie a classic. Furthermore, when complemented with Fisher "Getting to Yes" book, the negotiation techniques used by Juror 8 could be seen to still be highly applicable in today's world.