Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Plot synopsis:
Shreveport, Louisiana TV reporter C. J. Nicholas (Jesse Metcalfe) is convinced that District Attorney Mark Hunter (Michael Douglas) is corrupt, following an unbroken string of convictions based only on circumstantial evidence. After flirting with Assistant D.A. Ella Crystal (Amber Tamblyn) to obtain an evidential videotape that he hopes will be revealing, they begin dating and fall in love.
The videotape suggests to Nicholas that Hunter is using one of his investigators, Lt. Merchant, to obtain DNA evidence from suspects in custody and plant the evidence to support a conviction. Still unable to prove his claim against Hunter, he is demoted from watchdog reporter to general assignment due to budget cuts. Nicholas becomes even more determined to expose Hunter, convinced that he will win a Pulitzer if successful.
He concocts an elaborate scheme to frame himself for the murder of a prostitute using circumstantial evidence. His passion for the project enlists support from Crystal—who still does not know he is gunning for her boss—and co-worker Corey Finley (Joel Moore). Finley accompanies him as he obtains objects online and from pawn shops that will circumstantially link Nicholas to the murder. Finley records these instances on video with Nicholas holding a newspaper showing the date to be after the date of the murder. The original video kept in Finley's desk and a back-up copy is placed in a safe deposit box.
Nicholas gets himself arrested for DUI while wearing his falsified circumstantial evidence. He is arrested and charged with the murder. Merchant, however, becomes suspicious and informs Hunter that Nicholas is trying to set them up.
Crystal, who still doesn't know what Nicholas has been plotting, visits him in jail and offers to quit her job and join his defense team, but he convinces her not to do so.
The next step in the plan is to wait until the prosecution rests its case, then introduce the documentary evidence exposing the truth. Hunter instructs Merchant to destroy the video evidence. Finley finds his desk ransacked. Panicked, he tries to retrieve the back-up, but is pursued by Merchant in a high-speed chase in which he is killed.
Nicholas reveals his plot in court using only the dated receipts for his falsified evidence, but Hunter casts doubt on his story. Nicholas has no proof that the victim's blood, which was found on the false evidence, was planted by Hunter's people. The jury convicts Nicholas for the crime.
Crystal still believes in Nicholas and begins her own investigation, unaware that Hunter knew she was dating Nicholas. She is followed by Merchant.
Nicholas is sentenced to death. Hunter visits him in prison to reveal that his phone calls to Crystal, guiding her investigation, have been recorded.
Crystal obtains crime scene photos from Hunter's convictions and takes them to digital photography experts, who determine that the objects containing the suspect's DNA evidence in each case have been digitally added to the original photos after the fact.
When she attempts to take this evidence to the police, Merchant tries to kill her with his car while she flees on foot. She is rescued by Lt. Nickerson (Orlando Jones), one of Nicholas' police contacts, who shoots Merchant dead. Nickerson reveals that he suspected Merchant was up to no good, and he had been "following him following" Crystal.
The doctored photo evidence leads to Hunter's arrest in a public scandal. Nicholas' conviction is declared a mistrial and he becomes a media celebrity. Hunter's convictions are re-examined by the state.
Crystal, however, begins to suspect that the evidence reveals something else, too. After re-watching Nicholas' award-winning documentary about the murder of a prostitute in Buffalo, New York, she recognizes the hands of a woman who supposedly died of a drug overdose during production as the hands of the victim in the murder for which Nicholas was convicted. She correctly deduces that the woman came to Shreveport to blackmail Nicholas, that Nicholas killed her, then used the murder in his scheme against Hunter.
Crystal alerts the police, and tells Nicholas that he is not subject to the double jeopardy law because he wasn't declared innocent. As the police arrive to arrest him, she tells him, "I just thought of one other thing. Fuck you."

Tags: suspenseful, mystery, neo noir, murder, violence

Review:
The only thing which stood out for me in the mediocre film Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009) was seeing the logo of the company RKO during the opening credits.Sure, it is a modernized digital version (I wish they had kept the "retro" look), but it was still nice to see that that legendary studio keeps being active (or maybe, a nostalgic investor simply bought the rights...I do not know).Unfortunately, that trivial detail was one of the best elements from this movie, because despite the main idea being slightly ingenious, the screenplay develops it on a boring and uninteresting way, at the same time the movie also has bad performances and bland direction from the mercenary Peter Hyams.The screenplay from Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009) discards any consistency, and it makes the characters to commit stupid mistakes which go against their character and the most basic common sense.We also feel the squeaks in the narrative gears when the screenplay tries to justify action scenes or moments of suspense in order to bring some life to the inert drama and also distract us from the multiple holes from the story.This film is the remake of a film which was directed in 1956 by the great Fritz Lang (1890-1976), and I suppose that many elements from the original film would feel anachronistic on a contemporary version, so Hyams (on his work as a screenwriter) faced the ungrateful homework of conciliating old concepts with modern technology.As a consequence, we have an erratic logic where the advanced digital analysis of a photograph is possible, but at the same time, the facility of duplicating the digital content of a DVD is ignored.So, the abundance of inconsistencies such as that one, hollow characters and hasty deductions are the main elements which make Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009) to be mediocre, boring and disposable.So, in conclusion I cannot recommend this movie.It may not be bad, but it is so mediocre and insipid that I feel I could have used the time I invested in watching it doing something more interesting..
That the police, the judge, the jury, or the viewers are gullible enough to swallow this nonsense is pure fantasy.Fritz Lang directed the 1956 original of the same title with a cast that included Dana Andrews and Joan Fontaine; however, that earlier decade was a period when purely circumstantial evidence could convict the innocent.
Joel David Moore as Metcalfe's sidekick brings some life and humor to a thankless role.In today's world of DNA testing, Photoshop manipulation, social media awareness, and police forensics, Peter Hyams's reworked script is incredulous and beyond absurd.
You take the plot line of a completely outdated 50's flick, set the story in whatever city's tourist board, gives you the best deal, hire couple of tepid and incredible uncharismatic young half-stars, add in a top billing a major star , little over the hill, and you have a movie.
The only thing the movie had going for it was a fairly good dialog (probably derived from the original manuscript to Fritz Langs original from 1956), but the lead actor and actress did a pretty poor job delivering them.
You've got the seed of a promising story featuring several characters who could have been interesting, some courtroom drama which could have been intense, some plot twists which could have been shocking and a star lead actor in Michael Douglas who could have sold you this movie with his charisma.
While he used to direct somewhat interesting films several decades ago, Hyams has long since lost any edge he might have had and every weakness in his style which we readily forgave back in the 80s are now terribly grating when seen in a 2009 movie.
Reporter sets himself up to take murder rap to show the errors of circumstantial evidence and discredit (D.A.) District Attorney (Michael Douglas who also starred other judicial thriller for Peter Hyams titled Star Chamber) .
Acceptable acting from protagonist trio , as Jesse Metcalf as a young reporter who pretends to be guilty of a murder to get first-hand view of corruption , enjoyable Amber Tamblyn as his girlfriend as well as prosecutor assistant and Michael Douglas as a nasty D.A. Thrilling and atmospheric musical score by David Shire .
Assault on the justice system this is not to be.Since Michael Douglas' name got a bigger font size on the poster, let's start with his character, the District Attorney Mark Hunter who is one case away from sealing his man made destiny to become governor.
He's quite the confident schmuck who can mesmerize any jury and his straight convictions of the accused through circumstantial and DNA evidence, raises the suspicion of investigative journalist C.J. Nicholas (Jesse Metcalfe of Desperate Housewives fame), whose research seem to point to Hunter artificially engineering evidence in his favour.An audacious plan gets concocted, and for the sake of a Pulitzer prize, C.J. and career pal Corey (Joel Moore) decide to entrap Hunter into using his deceiving tactics against them in a real murder which they will engineer the circumstantial evidence to point towards C.J., though I wonder if the quest to become famous and climb that corporate ladder would warrant something as risky as this, and what more, the lack of purposeful planning, which allows you the audience to stay one step ahead into just what would happen next.The second half of the movie then shifts its attention to Amber Tamblyn's Ella, while being the assistant to Mark Hunter, gets romantically involved with C.J. and decides to do a little probing herself, which of course led to her being a target.
I have to admit though that the final words uttered here was quite a ballsy way to end a story, although it can also mean the same words directed at the unsuspecting audience member who didn't come expecting B-movie through and through..
There even seem to be major problems in the editing, because the way certain scenes are cut, doesn't make any sense.Best part of the movie, at least for Linux and Apple users, might be the fact that the bad cop looks like Steve Ballmer..
Sounds good, but something goes very wrong.Not for a moment is the story believable, and it takes too many ways out of conflict, including rushing scenes, throwing in cheap surprises, and also a deus ex machina to conclude the whole thing.
Reporter C J Nicols (Metcalfe) believes District Attorney Mark Hunter (Douglas) gets most of his convictions by planting DNA evidence on the person arrested for the crime.
Jesse Metcalfe investigates, stupidly framing himself for a murder he didn't commit and see if Douglas messes with the evidence.He has a friend to help him and he stupidly doesn't bring the evidence to the court at the time so we have an uneccessary care chase.Some of the dialogue is daft.
I found the characters believable, the acting superb (Michael Douglas especially) and the story captivating, taking you up and down like a roller coaster.
I don't think this movie should have less than a 6, yes, the sound and photography is awful, but come on, the ending is a complete plot twist and will make you jump in your seat, just like I did.Seriously, watch this movie, it's only an hour and a half long and will make you go nuts right after you finish it..
Now to get his story, but some unforeseen complications do arise which if you've seen the 1956 version you have some idea what they are.Amber Tamblyn in an adult role does a fine job as Metcalf's girlfriend and one who works in the District Attorney's office.
Best supporting role is that of Joel David Moore as Metcalf's luckless cameraman who is the only other one who knows what Metcalf is trying to do.What this version of Beyond A Reasonable Doubt missed the most was the tension building direction of Fritz Lang.
the presence of Michael Douglas and Jesse Metcalfe , the fight for the noble purpose, the last surprise, the love story are reasonable ingredients for a sort of crime who reminds better examples of genre.
Not having seen the 50s original, I didn't know what to expect from this film—but being a fan of Michael Douglas and court thrillers, I gave it a go.The film is entertaining, with a likable cast of young actors in Jesse Metcalfe and Amber Tambyln.
By the midpoint, the lead has made so many poor decisions as a seemingly intelligent character, that we may not care whether he wins or not.The twist ending was as contrived as the rest of the plot and, while effective, did not have the chilling resonance it might have had if we were more emotionally connected to the characters.Finally, if as a film maker you have access to a talent as extraordinary as Michael Douglas, even if he not the lead, make sure that you every scene with him in it lifts the tension and advances the plot.
It stars Jesse Metcalfe, Amber Tamblyn, Michael Douglas, Joel David Moore and Orlando Jones.
He is convinced that high profile lawyer Mark Hunter (Douglas) is corrupting legal issues and sets about proving it...The 1956 film was the great Fritz Lang's last American film, more court drama than being overtly film noir, it was a film well tuned into legalities of its time.
Of course those things can often be forgivable if the film is well put together and holds some thriller/drama weight.The look of the film is cheap, as in a TV movie look, with the cinematography uninspiring, the young cast members hardly turn in characterisations to care for, while Douglas (who is very good) is surprisingly under used.
Wannabe law student CJ (Jesse Metcalfe) comes to think he's concocting evidence to notch up his conviction rate, and spots an opportunity to expose him when another murder case arises, implicating himself and conspiring to reveal the truth when Hunter's supposed corruption comes to light.
But this movie is also pretty good in originality and twists and turns of the story.
Aside from Michael Douglas as the DA of questionable ethics and court proceedings, the rest of the cast is a rather ill-prepared group of nascent actors in need of more experience than in the fluff films from which they came.C.J. Nicholas (Jesse Metcalfe) enters the Shreveport scene complete with a prize for reporting, eager to make it big and earn a Pulitzer: he seems to have an equal obsession with chasing young pretty women and finds one in the person of Ella Crystal (Amber Tamblyn) who happens to be the assistant to the DA.
Things change and the ending could have been surprising in the hands of better actors.The film is heavily padded with the requisite car chases and explosions and derring-do of the good cop/bad cop type, but the real problem with the movie is the weak presence of Metcalfe and Tamblyn.
A young reporter (Jesse Metcalf) is suspicious of a District Attorney (Douglas) who is faking evidence, so he sets himself up as the perp in a crime he didn't commit to trap the DA at his game.
Or have.Lots of crime thrillers have plots like this, good ones with twists that are calculated but great entertainment.
Take these mistakes, throw in some poor acting and a totally unnecessary car chase and you have "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt." Better yet, don't watch the movie in the first place, and save yourself an hour and a half..
I would even go further: this is a disaster of a wanna-be-thriller.Michael Douglas stars in a supporting role and only appears in the few courtroom scenes and two other short sequences - I'd be surprised if his shooting time went beyond two days of (really not convincing) work.
Once more,a remake of a Film Noir which was crying to be left alone."Beyond a reasonable doubt" which was Fritz Lang's final (and brilliant ) American movie has always been one of my favorites of the director ,perhaps my favorite of his American career along with "you only live once " and "fury".To write that I was eagerly waiting for Peter Hyams ' remake would be exaggerated .But I was curious enough to have a watch.It's moderately entertaining ,with full of filler (Russ Tamblyn's daughter chased by a car) ,bad acting (except for Michael Douglas who was given a role worthy of a cartoon villain) and little suspense ,particularly if you know the final unexpected twist.Lang's black and white gem was something like a Greek tragedy ,with immanent justice .We never feel that the hero is in jeopardy in the remake ,the scenes of the false clues seem like a game for big boys .
Lang wanted to express his disgust for death penalty (reductio ad absurdum) and for the last time to show that any man is a potential criminal.Here ,we have the good guy ( good because he wants to hit the big time,to win the Pulitzer) fighting the evil prosecutor .And to crown it all, the journalist's girlfriend works for his enemy ;an enemy so powerful he does not shrink from crime .In Lang's screenplay ,Sidney Blackmer dies in a car accident, period.The Dana Andrews/Joan Fontaine relationship was much more complex than it appeared : she was devoid of sex appeal (or Lang showed her so),often all dressed in black ,displaying no passion ;in direct contrast to that ,the good time girls her fiancé met ;whereas Barbara Nichols was cupid and crude,Fontaine looked almost frigid.The new screenplay oversimplifies all that and opts for the young beautiful couple with good prospects .Lang's screenplay was sometimes criticized for its implausibilities ;but the remake is worse for that matter.Many scenes are pathetic : the "coffee test" ,the two unbearable soon-to-be-doctors-of -computing,Michael Douglas scoffing at the prisoner in chains ,the chase in the parking lot,not to mention the "first cousin" episode.The only real good idea is the journalist's video and the idea that that poor mother's life is as important as any of ours.Peter Hyams was responsible for "2010" a disastrous "2001" sequel;he's better at doing movies of his very own,like "the star chambers"(also starring Douglas).Please take my advice :do watch Lang's black and white gem ;80 min only,beginning with a man walking on the death row ,and ending with a sinister telephone ring :the bell is tolling again..
The new version features Jesse Metcalfe,Amber Tamblyn,Joel Moore,Orlando Jones and Michael Douglas.Written, directed and filmed by Peter Hyams,it is about a high-profile criminal lawyer finds his bid for the governorship in jeopardy when an ambitious rookie journalist begins suspecting him of tampering with evidence in order to secure his many convictions.Mark Hunter has a reputation for putting criminals behind bars, and with elections approaching he seems a shoo-in for governor.
Now, as Ella discovers irrefutable proof of both C.J.'s innocence and her boss' shady dealings, the fate of two men rests in the hands of one woman whose life could be taken at any second.It could have been a great movie with an interesting premise and great elements for a crime thriller as well as a brilliant cast.However,it suffers from poor writing as it fails the screenwriter fails to update the tension and suspense to present-day audience.What turns out to be a would-be classic finds itself into a disaster of being a missed opportunities as it finds itself into numerous clichés and predictable elements to the point that it would insult the intelligence of the viewer.
Now, Hyams has appropriated the Douglas Morrow screenplay for the 1956 Fritz Lang thriller "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt" about the immorality of the death penalty and updated it with Jessie Metcalfe replacing Dana Andrews and Amber Tamblyn substituting for Joan Fontaine.
Michael Douglas, who worked with Hyams on the legal thriller "The Star Chamber," plays the villainous district attorney here rather than the hero, and Douglas gives such a polished performance that he dominates his co-stars in each scene.C.J. Nicholas (Jesse Metcalfe of "Desperate Housewives") is an ambitious investigative television journalist who works at a Shreveport, Louisiana, TV station.
Unfortunately, what's actually been produced is a thriller that's visually bland and compares unfavourably against the original because the plot changes and action sequences actively detract from the intrigue, impact and shocks that Fritz Lang's movie was able to deliver with such skill and ease despite having a very low budget to work with and a considerably shorter running time.In Shreveport, Louisiana, ambitious TV investigative reporter, C J Nicholas (Jesse Metcalfe) becomes interested in the extraordinary success that local D.A. Mark Hunter (Michael Douglas) has achieved by securing 17 consecutive guilty verdicts in murder cases that he's recently prosecuted.
This makes him suspicious that Hunter, who's been tipped to become the next Governor, is corruptly using planted evidence to win his cases.In order to pursue his investigation, Nicholas befriends Ella Crystal (Amber Tamblyn), an Assistant D.A. who works with Hunter and as well as dating her, persuades her to supply him with a video of the police interrogation of one of the convicted murderers.
Ella then embarks on her own investigation in the hope of completing it successfully in time to save Nicholas from being executed.Disappointingly, all the plot changes in this movie only serve to make the story worse than the original.
The flow of the movie is extremely streamlined and predictable, and with the exception of Michael Douglas, who has a much smaller part than I had hoped, no one really delivers any good acting performances either.
Amber Tamblyn does an okay job as Metcalfe's love interest, and Michael Douglas is good as the phony, icy DA..
Jesse Metcalfe plays C.J. Nicholas, a young and hungry-for-excitement journalist who frames himself for murder in order to expose the evidence-tampering and phony convictions by the corrupt D.A.of Shreveport, LA.
While I'm not personally a huge fan of Michael Douglas's too-cool-for-words acting style, his fans will probably enjoy his performance as the D.A.BEYOND a REASONABLE DOUBT is, of course, a remake of a somewhat better 1956 film by the same title.