Runaway Jury

Plot synopsis:
In New Orleans, Louisiana, Celeste Wood's life is changed in a blinding flash when a failed day trader at her husband's stock brokerage firm shows up at his former workplace with a semiautomatic handgun and opens fire on his former colleagues, including Celeste's husband. Two years later, and armed with pro bono attorney Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman), Celeste decides to take the weapon's manufacturer to court, on the grounds that the company's gross negligence led to her husband's death.As the trial date draws near, jury consultant Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman) arrives in town. Early in the movie, Fitch proves his incredible talent for reading people when he correctly guesses that his cabbie's mother is ill and in the hospital. Fitch arrives at his destination: the back room of a closed costume shop. In this room are about a dozen people on Fitch's payroll, armed with personal computers and backgrounds on each of the jurors in the jury pool. Also in this room are viewing and listening devices, intended to allow Fitch and his staff to communicate with lead attorney Durwood Cable (Bruce Davison) in the courtroom through electronic surveillance (a highly illegal practice) when they view the jurors and hear the answers to the questions put forth to them.In the jury pool is Nicholas Easter (John Cusack), a happy-go-lucky video game store clerk who tries to get himself excused from jury duty, even going as far as asking the judge to excuse him so he can compete in a video game challenge with a nominal cash prize. The judge refuses, and Fitch, despite doubts about allowing Easter on the jury, is out of challenges and has no choice but to allow Easter into the jury.Easter's congenial manner wins him acceptance from his fellow jurors, except Frank Hererra, a hardened former Marine of Cuban descent, who knows that there is a great deal of money at stake. Hererra takes an instant disliking to Easter, which is not alleviated when Easter proposes Herman Grimes - a blind man who displayed the most knowledge of law out of all of them when being selected - as jury foreman instead of Hererra.However, there is something to Hererra's suspicion that Easter has a hidden agenda. It is soon clear that Easter does have an ulterior motive, which somehow involves his girlfriend Marlee (Rachel Weisz). The two seem to be grifters and try to offer Fitch the verdict he wants - for a steep price. Fitch, clearly not amused, asks for proof that they can do what they say they can do. This they try to give him in a number of different ways; for example, Marlee asks Fitch "feeling patriotic?" and the next day, as an indirect result of a suggestion of Easter's, the jury stands up and leads the entire courtroom in the Pledge of Allegiance.Angered that an "amateur" may be even better at manipulating the jury than he is, Fitch orders Easter's apartment raided. Marlee counteracts by getting one of Fitch's jurors bounced. The cat and mouse game continues when a hit man tries to kill Marlee in her apartment. She manages to injure the intruder and escapes. She raises her price from $10 to $15 million.Meanwhile, Marlee is also working on Rohr, also promising to deliver him the same verdict for the same price. Though Rohr knows his case stands little chance against the well-funded defense- indeed, he goes so far as to actually get the money out-, he refuses to pay, going with his conscience.Fitch finally agrees to pay Marlee the ransom as one of his witnesses blows up on the stand, crippling, but not entirely losing the case. After Easter receives confirmation that Fitch has wired the money to a Cayman Islands bank, he asks jurors to review the facts of the case (trying to deliver a conviction for Celeste), much to the displeasure of his fellow juror Frank. In the meantime, Fitch's henchman, tracking Easter's path to Indiana, calls him frantically, telling him to not wire Easter the money, but it is too late. The henchman also learns that Easter's real name is Jeffrey Kerr, and that he has been tailing gun cases for some time. We also learn that Marlee's real name is Gabrielle Brant.Obviously Marlee and her sister had been Easter's friends since high school in the fictional rural town of Gardner, Indiana. Marlee's sister died in a school shooting when Easter was unable to protect her, and the town took the gun manufacturer to court in a lawsuit that Fitch himself argued. The town bankrupted its treasury after losing the case to Fitch.Back in the jury room, Frank calls the lawsuit frivolous, stating that despite the hardship in his own life, he has never asked anyone for a handout. Frank also reveals in a rant that regardless of the case facts, he does not want to deliver a verdict that will make a white upper-middle class woman even richer.Shocked at Frank's outburst, the jurors agree to review testimony once more. The gun manufacturer is found liable, with a large jury award coming for Celeste Wood. Fitch, defeated, leaves the courthouse and into an area bar. There, he is confronted by Easter and Marlee, who show him a copy of the wire transfer of $15 million. They tell him that he is to retire immediately... or they will fax the transfer document to the IRS, who will be likely concerned over such a large amount of money. Fitch asks what they intend to do with the money, and gets the answer that the $15 million will be given to the town of Gardner, Indiana since they went bankrupt after losing their case.Outside the bar, they see Wendell Rohr. Rohr recognizes Marlee and knows it's Nick with her. They smile at one another without saying a word. The movie ends with Marlee telling Nick she wants to go home. Nick agrees, knowing their job is done.

Tags: comedy, suspenseful, gothic, murder, boring, revenge, home movie

Review:
This review is targeted at those who have read John Grisham's novel and might want to know how the movie compares to the book.The largest and most controversial difference between the two is that while the trial in the book was about holding tobacco companies responsible for cigarette advertising, addiction, and lung cancer, the trial in the movie is a case of holding firearms companies responsible for encouraging guns to be sold to criminals.
Rachel Weisz, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, and the actors who play members of the jury are almost as I pictured them as well!
Even Jeremy Piven (who I can't help but picture as the Dean in Old School or his characters from PCU or Very Bad Things) delivered a respectable performance, and very different from the other movies mentioned.Runaway Jury doesn't throw in a lot of needless plot twists and unexpected happenings just for the sake of throwing off or fooling the viewer.
Whatever it takes to fix the jury, Hackman's up to it.But there are a couple of people, one a juror played by John Cusack, one an outsider played by Rachel Weisz who seem to have a game plan all their own.
Well acted yet flimsy adaptation of the John Grisham novel lacks a well rounded script to carry itself but has an amazing cast that lifts this mediocre film past its problems and into respectability.
Gene Hackman is great as a jury consultant who would stop at nothing to win a case and Rachel Weisz is amazing as his adversary in and out of the courtroom.
It's a great way to spend two hours of your time, especially with the great performances of Gene Hackman and Rachel Weisz to keep you glued to what is happening but the movie has a lot of glaring problems that makes it hard to sit though in certain parts..
With a high powered Gun Manufacturer, at risk of being held responsible for selling the guns that are used in crime, the question is why.Gene Hackman is brought in for the defence as a jury consultant, who is at ease with digging up dirt and manipulating jurors, to get the results he wants.And Rachel Weisz is an outsider, pulling Easters strings.
As the stakes get higher, there is no doubt that this Jury is For Sale, but will the highest bidder win.Hackman, Weisz and Cusack are all on top form for this one, but Hoffman's Character seemed to lack a little depth.Basically a good thriller, that is worth watching, but don't expect too much, you might feel let down.7/10.
Some special interests are trying to manipulate the jury, but Nick isn't about to let that happen.A major part of this movie is that Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman co-star at long last.
Compared to that movies this movie also has a far more superior style and atmosphere.The cast is impressive and filled with stars such as: John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman and Rachel Weisz.
The movie might very well have the best supporting cast of the last couple of years.The Hackman/Hoffman scene is really good and one, if not THE highlight of the movie.The movie offers a few surprising plot twists especially towards the ending, which I really loved!
Gene Hackman makes an excellent bad guy as the lawyer for the gun industry and there are several good supporting roles, especially that of Bruce Mc Gill, as the judge.
John Cusack stars as Nick Easter, a cunning young juror trying to bribe both the defense and the prosecution in a high-profile case against a gun manufacturer.RUNAWAY JURY starts out quite strong, and those who haven't read the book are lured into the clever, original plot with all its turns.
It's as if all the interesting twists are used up in the first hour, forcing the writers to pad the remainder with drawn-out scenes and contrived dialog (a scene where the simplistically pure Dustin Hoffman and the simplistically evil Gene Hackman meet in the men's room stands out in particular).RUNAWAY JURY also commits a near unforgivable flaw for fictitious entertainment: it's too damn preachy.
Indeed viewers who believe criminals, not firearm makers, are responsible for gun crime, are treated as something of a parasite, best exemplified by a raving juror played a gruff Cliff Curtis.In the end, RUNAWAY JURY is a film that is difficult to critique.
It's a decent film because of the acting of Rachel Weisz and Gene Hackman but they like the viewer are let down with a script that lacks conviction for the subject it covers and a real point of view that expresses the feelings of the reality of the gun issue..
The story kept my interest with a good legal and illegal scam and plenty of action, I didn't figure out the ending, and Runaway Jury was both entertaining and worth watching.
The acting is first rate with Rachel Weisz and Gene Hackman being the standouts in a cast that includes Dustin Hoffman John Cusack, and Bruce Davidson.
Rachel Weisz uses her feminine wiles even more manipulatively than she did in "Shape of Things."David Baerwald was the music coordinator, so it's disappointing that there isn't more New Orleans music to set the wasted mis en scene, though that sure sounded like Sonny Landredth's distinctive slide guitar behind the Peter Malick and Norah Jones Dylan cover over the credits.And I wasn't even biased by the fact that my cousin the actress's day job is working for jury consultants by coaching witnesses to speak convincingly!(originally written 11/12/2003).
The acting is great( Thanks mostly to Rachel Weisz and Gene Hackman) But the film is not that good..
The acting is very good with great performances by Rachel Weisz, who really makes this film a better one than it really is with her great performance and Gene Hackman, who kept the pace up with his great performance with a villainous, and yet sympathetic role.
I give thanks to Rachel Weisz, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman for making this film a much better experience than the script wanted it to be but I also feel bad for then for not having a script that helps them move this picture along to a much better end..
The entire case made against the gun industry is based upon the fiction from a novel that jurys can be strictly controlled, that they did in fact do that in the past, so as to trigger outrage in the viewer.IF they had presented a fair examination of the arguments, this would have been an excellent movie.
Hollywood demonstrates once again its' venomous hatred for guns and gun owners (except when using guns to shoot dozens of people in needlessly gory scenes in movies!) by changing the basic story line in 'Runaway Jury' from a trial against the tobacco  companies to one about punishing gun companies.> Grisham's original plot (essentially a rehash of one he's done before about insiders beating criminals at their own game, a David versus Goliath theme) in the book was about Big Tobacco perverting a jury trial with paid 'consultants' who'll stoop to anything, including murder, to get their client the verdict they desire.
But Hollywood's elite leftists can't shake their visceral hatred of gun owners and so have taken what COULD have been a good movie, with a good cast, and turned it on its' ear to make another tired diatribe against people they don't understand and a culture that they loathe.The only thing that I can hope for is that Mr. Grisham had nothing to do with this perversion of his story, otherwise I'll never be able to read his books with a clear conscience again.
I thought black and white depictions of morality, especially in the courtroom, were a thing of the past, but "Runaway Jury" has, disappointingly, proven me wrong; the "gun industry", with Gene Hackman as its frontman, is a two-dimensional cardboard cut-out of a villain out for nothing more than money, indifferent to the harm their products may be put to.
The performances are great with Gene Hackman Rachel Weisz and Dustin Hoffman doing their best in order to make you care about what is going on but the script is a mess and the direction is sloppy at best.
Rachel Weisz is with out a doubt one of the most versatile and most talented actresses of our generation and she is so brilliant in this film that she should have been the lead instead of John Cusack, who is horribly miscast in his role and Dustin Hoffman, who is still a class act but he's not in this movie too much at all and he does nothing other than have a fight with Gene in the men's room of all places.
Not one shot last longer than 5 seconds, a HUGE mistake in a film starring some of the best actors working: Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, John Cusack, etc.
Only knowing the premise of the movie - Jury fixing - I was surprised at the twists the movie went through.At first, I groaned at the thought that this was going to be another "statement" movie, like "The life of David Gale" or Satirist Michael Moore's "Bowling for Columbine." But, I was pleased to find the final plot twist, at the end, was really revenge against a jury analyst.John Cusack and Rachel Weisz kept this movie moving along, with Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman adding a nice subplot.
The acting is good with great performances by Gene Hackman, Rachel Weisz and Dustin Hoffman, which does the film more justice that the uneven script that they are working with and you can see it in their faces that they even think that the script is bad.
The actors are good enough for you to stay tune to what you are watching but eventually you yourself will fight the urge to tune out.I will give a special nod to the effort made by Rachel Weisz, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman to rise above the lackluster materiel here in this film but the movie needed much more work in order for it to really keep me interested in the what is going on..
I like the thoughts being portrayed of the large corporations and their impact on the people they target for profit.And despite the book and movie differing greatly in subject matter, I'm always a fan of John Grisham's novels.
Other than the good acting of Rachel Weisz and Gene Hackman (which both deserve a lot of credit for making the movie bearable) The movie is just a mess from beginning to end.
The movie excels because of the acting of Rachel Weisz, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman but I suggest you rent other movies from them instead..
Overall, Other Than Being Very Entertaining Thriller, It Was Educative And Exhilarating.The Cast Was Top-Notch.John Cusack Is Like able In Virtually Every Role.Gene Hackman Brings In His Charismatic Ruthlessness Into His Character,Dustin Hoffman Was Equally Superb.Rachel Weisz Has Really Mastered Her Acting Skills.The Others Were Tight And Apt In Their Performance.Overall,Don't Miss This Movie.It's A Top Notch Thriller From The Brilliant Mind Of John Grisham And Expeditiously Executed In The Big Screen.My Verdict:8/10.
The original John Grisham novel "The Runaway Jury" was all about a civil case against some big tobacco company.
An Excellent Thriller, With an Outstanding Cast and a Surprising End. In New Orleans, the widow of a broker, killed with ten colleagues in their office by a disturbed ex-employee, who committed suicide after the massacre, decides to hire the honest civil lawyer Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman) and bring a civil suit against the gun manufacturer.
'Runaway Jury' is an excellent thriller, and the major attraction is the cast: Gene Hackman, John Cusack, Dustin Hoffman and Rachel Weisz together would probably be enough for a synonym of a great film.
Any film with Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, and John Cusack is off to a good start.
The first to pay fifteen million dollars will have the verdict returned in their favor.Director Gary Fleder does something with Runaway Jury that I found lacking in film adaptations of John Grisham's other works such as The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and The Client.
It had taht feel-good flare to it (reminiscent of some finales of the other John Grisham flicks, save for THE CHAMBER - which also starred Hackman).I think the cast, pretty much made the movie along with the plausible story.
It boasts an A list Hollywood cast, with such names as: John Cusack, Rachel Weisz, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, and Jeremy Piven.
With an original story and some big actors Runaway Jury was one of those movies you like but not.
'Runaway Jury' is one of the good films in this series, and the presence of such big stars and Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman facing each other in court and on the screen is a delight in itself.
Dustin Hoffman and especially Gene Hackman deliver believable performances that carry the film from beginning to end.
If this was all this was about it may not be very good, but it's also almost a how-to movie on swaying the jury selection process in a extremely profound way thru Gene Hackman's company's attempt to find every little piece of dirt possible of the jurors and bribing them for their vote.
RUNAWAY JURY=============================== Directed by Gary Fleder Cast: John Cusack, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Weisz & Marguerite Moreau Cinematography by Robert Elswit Distributed by 20th Century Fox Running Time - 125m, US Release 2003, Rating - PG13=============================== I don't remember ever being this torn over reviewing a movie.
But statements it makes, with a moral righteousness that taxes the consummate skills of Dustin Hoffman, John Cusack, Rachel Weisz, Gene Hackman, and several other stars.
It reminded me of those monster movies that start with a big monster, as if to say, `skip the build up to suspension of disbelief, just take it as read that the big plasticky thing with ten legs and lots and lots of teeth is real, then we can get on with the story.' The monsters here are bad guy Hackman and his CIA-style organisation that knows the weakness of every juror with such hi-tech precision and depth psychology that it verges on mindreading, and a system that is so lacking in any moral fibre that legal procedures connected to fair trial can be bypassed like someone with a houdini kit getting out of a lead box at the bottom of the ocean and still arriving for dinner without a hair out of place.Having dealt with that though, Runaway Jury is a first class thriller, and Dustin Hoffman gives such a convincing performance as the lawyer fighting gun manufacturers that you wish he would take a job as a barrister  or at least run for senator.
I've been a Gene Hackman fan for ages, and he really made this movie work, and I think that Dustin Hoffman was great as well.
I prefer this movie to the book because it has more to offer, and the characters are better drawn out than the original novel.Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman should get an Oscar nominations for their performance, and it would be a crime if they did not.
I rented this movie because I usually like John Cusack, Gene Hackman, and Dustin Hoffman.
The premise of the story is that John Cusack gets himself on a jury for a case suing a gun manufacturer.
The fascinating triangle between John Cusack/Rachel Weisz and Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman adds an additional layer of suspense.
Well Dustin Hoffman, John Cusack all together for a great movie!.
It's easy to get hung up on that, overlooking that the 'true-life' crime shows feature stories that could also be dismissed as too crazy to be true.What you get in this film are excellent performances from Gene Hackman as Rankin Fitch, a nefarious 'jury-consultant' or fixer; Rachel Weisz as Marlee, who collaborates with John Cusack ('Nick Easter') to 'fix' the jury deciding a civil case against a gun company.
The film has the novelty of uniting longtime friends Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman on screen for the first time, but it is Rachel Weisz who takes top acting honours here with the confidence and rugged persistence she brings to her character who initially seems out of her depth.
Runaway Jury based on a John Grisham novel is an entertaining but barking nuts movie.Gene Hackman plays a jury fixer.
I liked the acting of the first-string cast-- among others, Gene Hackman as the totally amoral jury fixer, John Cusack and the adorable Rachel Weisz as the couple scheming secretly on several levels (along with lesser performances by future "Entourage" star Jeremy Piven and Dustin Hoffman adopting a sweet lil' Nawlins accent)--and it is a moderately compelling courtroom drama (not nearly as emotionally compelling as "The Verdict", though).
John Cusack is the friendly feisty juror, the mysterious Nicholas Easter, in a court room drama that sees Dustin Hoffman up against the wily, manipulative jury expert Gene Hackman.
Gene Hackman costars as a jury specialist being paid handsomely by the gun company, and Dustin Hoffman of all people (considering the story is set in Louisiana) plays the plaintiff's lawyer, a woman whose relative was killed by a person using one of the gun firm's weapons.
The stars are Gene Hackman, John Cusack, Rachel Weisz and Dustin Hoffman.
The cast involved was the main reason I rented this movie: Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Rachel Weisz and in a lesser degree John Cusack are all usually a quality guarantee.Runaway Jury is based on the John Grisham novel with the same name.
"Runaway Jury," the newest John Grisham book turned movie, was set and actually filmed in New Orleans (and not some Canadian stand-in city).
During the film it transpires that one of the jurors (Cusack)selected seems to follow his own agenda...The acting is solid and good, especially Hoffman and Hackman.
With a powerful cast featuring Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, and John Cusack, "Runaway Jury" certainly stands out.