Juror 2 (2024) – Slow Burn but absorbing

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Genre – Legal Drama

Time: 1 Hour 53 minutes

Platform: Amazon Prime – Rent

Director: Clint Eastwood

Cast: Nicholas Hoult. Toni Collette.

 

Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) and his wife Ally (Zoey Deutsch) are expecting their child, and Ally is in the final trimester of pregnancy. Justin is called to do jury duty on a high-profile case involving the murder of a woman Kendall Carter (Francesca Eastwood). The suspect is Kendall’s boyfriend James Sythe (Gabriel Basso), as the two were seen arguing at a bar, resulting in a violent altercation. Kemp tells the judge that he would rather be excused the duty as he is an expectant father and his wife’s pregnancy is a high-risk case. The judge (Amy Aquino) tells him that he will be relieved on time every day and is safe to go back home, on time.

 

As the politically ambitious prosecutor Faith Killbrew (Toni Collette) who is running for the office of the District Attorney, multiple witnesses and the Defence counsel Eric Resnick (Chris Messina) argue the case, Kemp realizes the harsh truth. Sythe, though with a violent past, had not killed Kendall. It was Kemp who had accidentally done a hit-and-run in the blinding rain, and Francesca’s body had been thrown off the bridge by his car, while he had thought that it was a deer he had hit. He realizes that Sythe does not have a chance and the jury is out to convict him as the” evidence” is overwhelming. Kemp’s conscience gets the better of him and he tries to convince the jury that there is reasonable doubt. One of the juror’s turns out to be an ex-police detective and he too argues that all the evidence points to a hit-and-run and not deliberate murder. It becomes a “hung jury” with equal votes for and against Sythe. The ex-detective is taken off jury duty as he had not shared about his past while Justin continues.

 

Clint Eastwood had announced that this would be his last film and this resulted in its own drama. Warner Bros., the longtime distributor for Eastwood’s Malpaso Productions , was very reluctant to give a general release for the film as per this October 2024 report. https://variety.com/2024/film/news/clint-eastwood-juror-no-2-release-warner-bros-burying-1236188876/

 

An American icon like Eastwood, working at the age of 94, surely deserves better. Most of his best films have been slow burn films that slowly build up, leaving us wondering, “what will happen next” and at times resulting in shattering endings.

 

Juror 2 is no different. The facts are there in front of us within the first fifteen minutes of the film. Like the searing “Mystic River”, we know that some wrong had happened. It’s the reaction of the characters and their human frailties that forms engaging drama.

 

Though it’s not said as such, we ponder many of the points. Like some of the greatest directors, Eastwood does not preach. He SHOWS us what is happening and we start pondering the points such as:

• Will Justin really save himself or an innocent man?
• Is Faith going for the kill, by convicting an innocent, despite the retired detective’s contention that it was not murder but an accident?
• Are the jurors free of any personal bias?
• Will justice be delivered ? or this is just another case of  “due process of the law “running its due course?
• Is justice blind or the law?
• Will truth really triumph over political expediency – a high-profile case?

 

None of these questions are mentioned. We see it onscreen and keep wondering how it will all end.

 

Yes, before you even think about it there is a feeling that the ghost of that mother of all such “Jury Dramas” , 12 Angry Men (1957), is not only hovering over the proceedings but also actively influencing the film maker , for a sizable duration of the film’s proceedings.

 

Despite a somewhat “old fashioned” “courtroom drama” feel, the film is absorbing. Make no mistake it is a ‘slow burn’ film that is typical of most Eastwood dramas like Gran Torino, Mystic River etc where its all about humans and their actions which have consequences. Good, bad or ugly is a ‘value judgement” that we give to these actions and their consequences.

 

In sum, this is a slow burn legal drama that is like some of Eastwood’s best films. The pacing is typical Eastwood – slow buildup and then the gradual move towards the climax.

 

The last shot/ the ending of the film leaves us pondering ; is that the start of a new story ?  Two humans and their frailties will clash now ?

 

 

Script – 4 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Direction – 5 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

 

Total – 4.3 out of 5