Promising premise - disappointing second half.

Rating: 6/10 (15 February 2010)

I remember seeing the trailer and thinking that this would be a great flick. I thought Jamie Foxx would make the perfect arrogant Lawyer type.
As the movie progresses, you can see that he is more concerned with his career than seeking Justice which you hope will lead to a humbling experience for him later on.
As the movie progresses, early on you can see that his actions have come back to haunt him but then...it stops.
No Lessons, he is still an ass at the end and learns nothing.
What at first seems to start as a morality play soon devolves into an action flick with a preposterous "twist" which destroys any suspense for the second half because it is so implausible.
It seems like they did test screenings and then altered the script/ending to please a focus group, which has resulted in an ultimately empty and unsatisfying movie experience.
It would have been so much better to have had a climactic scene between Foxx and Butler where Foxx's character would break down and apologize for failing Butler's character but he doesn't.
So in the end, the main protagonist(s)(Is it Foxx or is it Butler???) ultimately lose.
Foxx's character loses by ultimately learning nothing about being a parasite racking up convictions by brokering unfair deals to further his career and Butler loses his family and proper justice by not having Foxx's character own up to his failings as a public servant.
It would be interesting to see if the DVD has alternate endings that may have been more satisfying to the viewer.