Blu-ray Review: Juror #2

By John Corrado

At 94 years old, and over five decades into a directing career that includes two Best Picture Oscar winners (Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby), actor-turned-filmmaker Clint Eastwood has proven himself to be the steadiest of hands behind the camera.

The courtroom drama Juror #2 is now Eastwood’s 40th film as director, and this (possible) swan song proves that sometimes all you need for a compelling drama is a strong script and a skilled cast. This film has both.

The titular juror #2 is Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult), who has a baby on the way with wife Allison (Zoey Deutch). It’s a high risk pregnancy, so Justin doesn’t want to be away from her with the due date coming up. But he has been chosen for jury duty, and is assigned a tricky murder case. Eastwood is smart to efficiently lay this foundation in the opening scenes, showing the personal stakes for Justin as a family man.

The man on trial is James Michael Sythe (Gabriel Basso), who is being charged with murder for the death of his girlfriend after a night at the bar. Sythe is being represented by a public defender (Chris Messina), who comes across as a decent, hardworking man. Acting as prosecutor is the district attorney, Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette), who is coming up for re-election and is hounded by the media about the “five point bump” she would get in the polls if she wins the case and puts Sythe away.

Justin’s own possible connections to the case, which becomes clearer as the trial starts to unfold, causes him to face a moral dilemma about whether or not to convict Sythe. Thanks to the intelligent screenplay by Jonathan Abrams, which keeps re-litigating the case from multiple angles, Eastwood’s film has us constantly second-guessing ourselves as to who is actually a good person. The personal biases of the twelve jurors themselves, and why they come to certain conclusions about the case, also come into question.

Hoult does much of the heavy lifting, many moments playing off of reaction shots on his face. It’s a complex character that Hoult is playing, and he lets us feel every moment and decision that Justin is going through. It’s some of his finest work to date. The rest of the cast does excellent work. Collette adds interesting layers to an icy career woman. J.K. Simmons also appears as one of the jurors, and has some key scenes. It’s wonderful to watch this cast play off each other.

It doesn’t quite reach the heights of the great Twelve Angry Men, the perfect template for all courtroom dramas. But it shares DNA with it. This is Eastwood proving what a skilled filmmaker he is at crafting these sorts of complex, character-driven adult dramas. It’s a skillfully crafted legal thriller; suspenseful, tautly made, with a morally and emotionally compelling story that unfolds with precision. A film that deserved better than it got, having been dumped in few theatres and not campaigned for any awards.

Film Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)