A Moral Tale, but not justice for all....

Rating: 10/10 (17 January 2000)

Key Words: Powerful / Poignant / Thought provoking / Plodding
Denzel gives us yet another believable and powerful performance throughout a story that is otherwise slow and plods along. He and the writers clean up the image of the real "Hurricane" who was not nearly so lovable. Not withstanding, this is a strong moral tale about how "justice" can be so easily be mis-used and made to serve the greed and hate of those sworn to uphold it.
Everyone missed one point that could have been made by this story - if Hurricane had been put to death rather than in prison for life, there never could or would have been the chance to release an innocent man years later. Think about it. How many others have been railroaded into prison for things they did not do? How many innocents have been put to death before another trial could have shown they were innocent? It is scary to think about....
See this one for the strong performance by Denzel. And rejoice when justice, though long delayed, is finally his- and ours (although there is no indication that the ones who framed him ever suffered for their deeds, except if they had to watch themselves portrayed in this film). And wonder why Hurricane (actually the writers) never worry about getting justice for the poor innocent boy who also went to jail just for being in the same car with Hurricane and never gave in to the pressure to say that Hurricane did the crime just to save himself. Hurricane says the boy is "my hero", but that is the last we hear about him. If there was such an interest in final justice, a few words could have been left in to show they cared about getting that poor guy out also.....