Missed Opportunity

Rating: Null/10 (27 April 2000)

A very interesting idea for a film, unfortunately the writer neglected to offer us characters that we cared about, or knew anything about. There were no real surprises in the predictable plot either. Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L Jackson adequately wander through the labored dialogue, lesser actors would have made the whole thing intolerable. Guy Pearce as the prosecuting lawyer has an inexplicable Brooklyn accent. Pearce is an Aussie and should have just stuck to the "neutral" American accent which he employed effectively in "L.A. Confidential." Along the same lines, Ben Kingsley, a Brit, plays the U.S. Ambassador in Yemen. Is there a shortage of American actors? American actors already have American accents don't they? This movie is ultimately a courtroom drama (yet another one), but there is very little suspense in the courtroom, opportunities to introduce some real drama and conflicts are sadly missed, and I left the theater feeling robbed.