just comments..some spoilers

Rating: 6/10 (24 March 2003)

Aside from being extremely predictable, this was a pretty good film. A murder has taken place and a young boy's life is on trial. The film focuses on the twelve men that make up the jury. In the beginning, they are fairly certain that the boy is guilty of the crime. In fact, eleven of the twelve men believe he is guilty. One man, for no particular reason except for a hunch, feels that the boy is innocent. This, of course, causes a lot of turmoil amongst the other men. They must stay cooped up in that hot, cramped little room until they can all agree on the same verdict. The lone man slowly begins to question the facts. Pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place and one by one, the other men begin to see the light. They too start to believe that the boy is innocent of the crime. In the end, all of the men end up changing their minds and an innocent boy's life is spared all because one man put a little more thought into the details. From the very beginning of the film, it is quite evident that all the men will change their minds in the end. The interesting thing is seeing what it is that actually convinces them to change their minds. The fact that almost the entire film was shot in the same room was quite effective. It allowed the viewer to feel as though they were actually a jury member taking part in the trial. The viewer never really gets to see all the details of the murder. When the members of the jury try to envision how long it would take an old man to hobble down a hallway, or what a person with poor eyesight would see through the windows of a moving city train, the viewer must try just as hard to envision such things as well.
Throughout the film, the director used a technique where he kept changing the depth of field. Although subtle, it was also very effective in creating an ever increasing sense of discomfort and aggravation. All in all, this film was very well written and I quite enjoyed it. (Although I must add that the reason why the last man changed his mind was a little too emotional and hokey for my liking, by hey, whatever works!)