Over the years, I have read a few different books by John Grisham and enjoyed them. I have also seen some of the movies based on his books. I did like most of the movies, but I thought that The Firm was changed too much and I hated the movie. Runaway Jury is the first movie made based on a Grisham book in several years. I just saw the movie.

One morning a man walked into the office where he formerly worked and started shooting. Several people were killed and others were injured. Two years later a lawsuit that Celeste Wood, the widow of one of the men killed, filed against the gun company that made the gun that killed her husband was getting ready to start. There had never been a judgement against a gun manufacturer in a case like this before.

Durwood Cable was the lawyer defending the gun company. Henry Jankle, the owner of the gun company, hired Rankin Fitch, a jury consultant. Rankin was very well known for helping to pick juries that would be sympathetic to the people he was working for. He and his team used surveillance to follow potential jurors. They dug into records and uncovered secrets. Rankin and his team would then use those secrets to try to blackmail jurors into voting their way. He had no problem with doing anything to ensure that his clients received the verdict they wanted. Rankin used a lot of high tech stuff to do his surveillance and to watch what was going on in the courtroom when he wasn’t there. Rankin picked out some jurors before the selection started and he even pointed out who he wanted to be the foreman. The other lawyer on the case was Wendell Rohr. He had heard about Rankin, but still thought he could win the case. Lawrence Green was a jury consultant from New York who arrived wanting to work with Wendell. Lawrence wasn’t as experienced, but he picked up on things as well.

Nicholas Easter worked in a video game store. He received a summons for jury duty. He wasn’t happy about that and was even talking to some friends about how to get out of it. Nick went in for the selection and it turned out he was there for the gun trial. Nick tried to get out of it, but he managed to irritate the judge in a big way and get placed on the jury. That night Nick went to see a woman, and they were happy that he was on the jury. They had their own plans to influence the verdict.

The trial began and soon after Rankin and Wendell were contacted by Nick’s friend. She called herself Marlee and said she was in control of the jury and could push the verdict either way, for a price. Marlee and Nick did prove that they had some influence over the jury. Rankin used some things he uncovered about a few jurors to apply pressure to them to vote his way. Wendell was getting irritated by Rankin and things that were happening during the trial. Nick and Marlee continued with their plan, though their motives weren’t really clear.

CAST

John Cusack - Nick Easter
Gene Hackman - Rankin Fitch
Dustin Hoffman - Wendell Rohr
Rachel Weisz - Marlee
Bruce Davison - Durwood Cable
Bruce McGill - Judge Harkin
Jeremy Piven - Lawrence Green
Nick Searcy - Doyle
Stanley Anderson - Henry Jankle
Cliff Curtis - Hank Herrera
Jennifer Beals - Vanessa Lembeck
Joanna Going - Celeste Wood
Nora Dunn - Stella Hulic
Orlando Bloom - Russell
Dylan McDermott - Jacob Wood

Gary Fletcher - Director

Runaway Jury was released on October 17, 2003. The movie was just over two hours long and rated PG-13. There was some swearing in the movie, but it wasn’t that extreme. I don’t think the swearing would offend anyone since there really wasn’t that much. It would probably be all right for older children to see the movie, but it is a more serious movie that children may not be interested it. I can see this movie boring them. The movie was based on the book of the same name by John Grisham. I haven’t read the book yet, so I don’t know how much the movie changed. I do know from reading the back of the book that a tobacco company was sued in the book instead of a gun company. I did talk to a friend who has read the book after I saw the movie, and from that conversation it seems like several things were changed. I will get the book and read it someday.

I did enjoy Runaway Jury. The main focus of the movie was the trial, but it wasn’t boring because more was shown than just the actual trial. I thought it was very interesting. I think some things in the movie, like how some people weren’t happy about having to go in for jury duty, is accurate. A lot of people don’t like to have to do that. There were also people who wanted to do it, and I’ve known people like that as well. I have heard of jury consultants being used for trials, but I have no idea if they do the kinds of thinks that Rankin did. He was willing to do anything to secure a verdict. The way he and his employees were watching the potential jurors and digging up information on them seemed a lot like big brother was watching. That was an invasion of privacy for those people, but Rankin didn’t care. I am a bit disturbed to think that something like that could really happen. The judicial system was set up the way it is so that one person wouldn’t be making the decisions in trials like that. Rankin seemed to think he had the right to manipulate a jury.

There was a lot going on in Runaway Jury. Several characters had their own agendas. It wasn’t clear what everyone was up to at first. Some things were clear early on, and other things took longer. The movie wasn’t really confusing, but it wasn’t always known why some characters were doing what they were doing. Marlee and Nick were trying to influence the verdict for some reason. Did they just want to get millions of dollars, or were they doing it for some other reason? I didn’t think there was any mystery in the movie, but there were some suspenseful moments when I wasn’t sure what would happen next. The movie wasn’t extremely suspenseful overall, but it did keep me guessing at times. There were a few things that happened that were predictable.

There was a little bit of action in Runaway Jury, but it wasn’t an action-packed movie. There was some violence in a few scenes of the movie, but it wasn’t excessive. The lawsuit was filed because someone went into an office building and started shooting, killing several people. That was shown in the movie, but not to much was shown. Two people were in an office talking, when they heard the gunshots start and screaming. The man left the office to see what was going on, and I think he saw a person or two get hit. He returned to his office and then was shot himself. His shooting wasn’t shown, but it was clear that he was shot. That scene could have been more violent. Later in the movie, a character was attacked. There was some fighting, but again it wasn’t excessive.

Runaway Jury did deal with a serious subject matter that many people feel strongly about, one way or the other. A gun company was being sued because a gun they made was sold illegally and used in the murders of several people. The lawsuit was to make the company accountable for what happens to the weapons they make. It wasn’t about trying to take away people’s rights to have guns, but to make gun companies more responsible in how they do business. Questions were raised about why the company even made automatic weapons. The movie wasn’t against guns, but it did seem to be against automatic weapons. The subject of the movie could be upsetting to some people, but I thought that the movie made some valid points.

Runaway Jury was based on a John Grisham book. It, like his other books that have been made into movies, was a legal thriller. The law was very important to the plot. Lawyers or people who studied law have been important in all of the Grisham books I’ve read, and in the movies I’ve seen based on his books. There do seem to be some similarities between his books and the movies made based on the books. There is usually an underdog of some kind involved in something big that could also be dangerous. All of the Grisham books I have read have taken place in somewhere in the south. Runaway Jury was set in Louisiana. I thought that the things that were similar to other works by Grisham were minor. The majority of what happened was different from his other books that I have read.

The acting in Runaway Jury was wonderful. John Cusack was very good as Nick. I have seen him in many movies over the years, including America's Sweethearts, and I always enjoy him. Most of the roles I’ve seen him in have been more quirky and in comedy roles. I did recently rent Identity, in which Cusack played another more serious role. Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman were wonderful in their parts. I have seen many movies with both actors before, and I always enjoy their performances. Hackman’s character of Rankin wasn’t that nice of a person. Hackman has played nasty characters before, most notably in Unforgiven. The role of Marlee was very different from the role of Evie that Rachel Weisz played in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. Marlee was a more serious and complex character.

Bruce Davison didn’t have as much to do as Durwood Cable. His parts were bigger in X2: X-Men United and Widow's Kiss, though he did have a small part in High Crimes. Bruce McGill was good as the Judge, but he didn’t have as many scenes as some of the other actors. I saw McGill in Matchstick Men and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde earlier this summer. He played three very different characters in those movies. He was also in Exit Wounds. I haven’t seen Jeremy Piven in many other things, but he held his own in this movie. Jennifer Beals and Nora Dunn had small roles as other jury members. Orlando Jones turned up in one scene as a friend of Nick. Dylan McDermott had an uncredited role as Jacob Wood, one of the victims in the shooting. Joanna Going had a few scenes as his widow Celeste.

There were a lot of characters in Runaway Jury. Some were important to the story like Rankin and Nick. Others only turned up in one or two scenes. The other jury members didn’t get as much focus as Nick did, so they weren’t that developed and were fairly flat characters. There wasn’t a lot of character development overall. There was enough for some characters for me to care about them and what was going on. There wasn’t much insight in to why some characters were the way they were.

CHARACTERS

Nick Easter - A man who is summoned for jury duty on a very big, important case. He seemed to be upset about the possibility of being picked, but then he was glad once he was. He had plans for the jury. He seemed to be funny and laid back, but there was more to him than that.

Marlee - Nick’s girlfriend. She was also glad he was on the jury. They had plans for the verdict.

Rankin Fitch - Jury consultant hired by the owner of the gun company being sued. Rankin was well known. He used all kinds of means to gather information about potential jurors and didn’t have a problem with forcing them into voting his way. He was very arrogant.

Wendell Rohr - The lawyer suing the gun company. He wasn’t a big city lawyer. He wanted to win the case. He didn’t like how some things were happening in the trial.

Celeste - Widow of one of the shooting victims. She filed the lawsuit against the gun company.

I really enjoyed Runaway Jury. Fans of any of the actors or John Grisham books may also enjoy it.

Related Reviews
The Mummy ~ The Mummy Returns~ Exit Wounds ~ Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde ~ Matchstick Men ~ X2: X-Men United ~ Widow's Kiss ~ High Crimes ~ America's Sweethearts ~





Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older