A Masterpiece ( spoilers)

Rating: 9/10 (21 February 2009)

I never expected "12 Angry men" to be so great. A movie that takes place in one room and has no action what so ever doesn't normally spark my attention. I can't really pinpoint what it is about 12 Angry men that makes it so great, because all that this movie is is conversation between 12 men. I really got pulled into the conversation and just like the jurors the more time went by the more I went along with juror nr. 8. At the end of the movie I was even convinced that Henry's Fonda's character was right all along.
However the main strength of the movie wasn't the subject of the conversation (guilty or not guilty)but the real underlying (daddy/ son)issues. Although the movie took place in one room I really got a good impression of most of the jurors. Some were more fleshed out than others, but there were a few instances that I was really impressed by the dialog and also the acting. A scene that comes to mind is the whole racist rampage that is uttered by jury nr 10 (from a very good Ed Begley)and the reaction of the other 11 men. I also really liked juror nr. 12, a man that wants to be liked so badly but hardly dares to give his two cents and changes his verdict from guilty, to not guilty, to guilty and then Not guilty again. Also the part where Juror nr 9 talks about the old man that "witnessed" the murder. He talked about the witness as this was an old man that wanted attention, because he was lonely and no-one ever listened to him. You could tell by the acting of Sweeny that the witness was exactly like him. Also Lee J. Cobb (Juror nr 3) has a few very impressive scenes. Especially the last one in which he breaks down comes to mind.
I know that everybody talks about Fonda and although I think that he is a really good actor, I thought that the ones that really shown in this movie were Cobb and Begley. However everybody was good and at the end of this movie I was really glad I watched this masterpiece. There I said it. Not a word that I use easily when talking about movies. But according to me 12 Angry men is one of the best movie's of all time, a brilliant character study.