Anyone who has served on a jury, or even been called upon to participate in jury selection, can remember the inevitable tension that direct participation in the justice system can cause. Countless others may recognize hallmarks of the experience from the abundance of films and television episodes: the courtroom call to order by the bailiff, the jury selection process, and the unpredictable uncertainties of the trial.
But while the often static setting of Juror n.2Clint Eastwood's latest feature film will no doubt feel familiar, the narrative twists and turns of Jonathan Abrams' nimble screenplay adding a new perspective to the courtroom drama. Eastwood's long list of awards and nearly incomparable professional longevity are sure to pique interest in Warner Bros.' November 1 bows, though the film itself remains a pretty decent addition to the Oscar winner's considerable career.
Juror n.2
The bottom line
A worthy addition to a storied career.
Place: AFI Fest (closing night)
Release date: Friday 1 November
Launch: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, Zoey Deutch, Chris Messina, Kiefer Sutherland, JK Simmons, Gabriel Basso, Cedric Yarbrough, Leslie Bibb, Francesca Eastwood, Amy Aquino, Adrienne C. Moore
Director: Clint Eastwood
Screenwriter: Jonathan Abrams
Rated PG-13, 1 hour, 53 minutes
Debuting his latest releases at AFI Fest has become something of a ritual for the 94-year-old multi-hyphenate, who previously hosted Matt Damon's sports drama Invictus; J. Edgarwith Leonardo DiCaprio; Oscar nominee American sniper with Bradley Cooper; and, more recently, 2019 Richard Jewell at the annual event. Even if he wasn't there Juror n.2In Eastwood's world premiere, Eastwood's palpable legacy inevitably informs the narrative of recovering alcoholic Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult), a magazine staff writer from Savannah, Georgia, who is summoned for jury duty.
Justin has turned his life around since he met and married Allison (Zoey Deutch) four years earlier, and the couple is especially anxious about the arrival of their new baby after a miscarriage the year before. The wait is a constant source of distraction as he is selected to be part of a high-profile murder trial: Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette), a county prosecutor currently campaigning for district attorney, has accused James Sythe ( Gabriel Basso) of manslaughter in court. the death of his girlfriend Kendall Carter (Francesca Eastwood) – a crime that could land him in prison for life without parole.
As details of the case emerge during the hearing, Justin finds the tale sound eerily familiar. Sythe is accused of killing Carter the previous year, allegedly beating her to death along a dark, rainy rural road after a confrontation at a bar, although authorities never recovered the gun. The incident is alleged to have occurred at the exact same location and date as Justin hitting a deer in his Toyota 4Runner after leaving the same bar where Sythe and Carter had argued. Justin claims he wasn't drinking at the time, despite feeling upset about Allison's miscarriage. But recounting that night's events to attorney Larry Lasker (Kiefer Sutherland), Justin speculates, “Maybe I didn't hit a deer.”
The scenes that make up the jury's deliberations are perhaps too similar to Sydney Lumet's 1957 classic 12 angry menwith only Justin initially against the conviction. As he strives to convince the other group that a reasonable doubt remains about Sythe's guilt, he is also pursuing a risky personal agenda. His staunch opposition to the conviction begins to raise questions among fellow jurors, but they agree that the case against Sythe is not as clear as Killebrew claimed during the trial.
Eastwood, who throughout his career has demonstrated a concern with society's struggle with moral conflicts, focuses primarily on Justin's moral dilemma rather than his legal precariousness. By repeatedly appealing to the audience with the implicit rhetorical question, “What would you do?” the filmmakers successfully manage to distract from the issues that a full procedural approach would be forced to address. It's an effective, if ultimately less satisfying, approach that deceives the audience but successfully avoids outright betrayal.
The tactic largely succeeds due to the strengths of the cast and the familiarity of the confusion following a car crash. Hoult's Justin suffers from repeated flashbacks throughout the trial that compound the trauma of the accident, which the actor conveys with understated but increasingly frayed restraint. Meanwhile, as Killebrew, who gradually emerges as the narrative's antagonist, begins to see his reputation and political career hinge on the outcome of the case, Collette progressively increases the character's intensity.
As in many Eastwood films, an exceptional supporting cast underlines the lead performances, from Chris Messina's determined public defender defending Basso's bewildered client, to JK Simmons as an exonerated juror with a hidden agenda.
Even the smaller roles are deftly scored, including Cedric Yarbrough, Adrienne C. Moore, and Leslie Bibb as contrarian jury members and a spicy, prickly Amy Aquino as the trial judge, though an underused German gets short shrift as the long-suffering Justin's wife.
Eastwood's team of longtime collaborators, including editor Joel Cox, director of photography Yves Bélanger and production designer Ron Reiss, along with producers Tim Moore and Jessica Meier, have skillfully helped create a distinctive film in the classic dramatic style of Hollywood. Eastwood sometimes overrelies on the familiar technique of close-ups to bring out his characters' internal conflicts. But actors of this caliber just as easily reveal appropriate emotion by tapping their foot or twitching their finger while taking another close-up shot of facial features.
Warner Bros. Discovery was originally planned Juror n.2 for streaming before the company changed the title to a PG-13 theatrical release. While this will qualify the film for Academy Awards consideration, it will reportedly only receive a limited run of fewer than 50 theaters nationwide.
However, the times of Juror n.2The release of puts it directly into the year's awards conversation, and as always, Eastwood will remain a strong contender for consideration.