Runaway Jury (2003)

Director:

Gary Fleder

Writers (WGA):

John Grisham (novel)
Brian Koppelman (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

17 October 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Trials are too important to be decided by juries.

Plot:

A juror on the inside and a woman on the outside manipulate a court trial involving a major gun manufacturer.

Plot Keywords:

Jury | Gun | Lawyer | Trial | Court

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

John Cusack	...	Nicholas 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	...	Frank Herrera
Nestor Serrano	...	Janovich
Leland Orser	...	Lamb
Jennifer Beals	...	Vanessa Lembeck
Gerry Bamman	...	Herman Grimes
Joanna Going	...	Celeste Wood

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for violence, language and thematic elements.

Runtime:

127 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Italian

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Malaysia:U | South Korea:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Canada:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:11 | Philippines:R-13 | Singapore:PG | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | UK:12A | USA:PG-13 (certificate #40050)

Filming Locations:

Esplanade Mall - 1401 West Esplanade, Kenner, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Regency Enterprises

Trivia:

After being in development for several years, director Alfonso Cuarón became attached to direct and co-write the film. He ended up leaving the project a few months after that.

Goofs:

Continuity: In Nick's first scene he opens a piece of mail at his apartment's mailbox. It is addressed to him at "1619 Chartres St." Later, when his info is brought up on Rankin Fitch's computer screen his address is listed as "617 Chartres St."

Quotes:

Rankin Fitch: What do you hope to achieve if you win? You gonna bring Jacob Wood back to life? No. You just ensure that his wife goes to the cemetery in a better car, and that the heel that she snaps on the way to the graveside belongs to a $1,200 shoe. You get your name in the paper. But Jacob Wood and all the other gun violence victims remain rotting in their crypts.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Making of 'Runaway Jury' (2004) (V)

Soundtrack:

Happy Birthday to You

Awesome Performances by Hackman, Cusack, Hoffman & Weisz.

Not since Primal Fear have I seen a court room thriller that was really good. Given the actors, I suppose you can't really go wrong. Usually I can find some actor or actress that wasn't very good, bothered me in some way or was flat out horrible. This movie featured superb acting by all those involved. Even Jeremy Piven (who I can't help but picture as the Dean in Old School or his characters from PCU or Very Bad Things) delivered a respectable performance, and very different from the other movies mentioned.

Runaway Jury doesn't throw in a lot of needless plot twists and unexpected happenings just for the sake of throwing off or fooling the viewer. In fact, it pretty much goes in the direction you think it will, with only a couple of exceptions which are needed.

I'm usually the type that likes my movies to get it all done in around 90 minutes or so. Seems to me that most movies that go over 2 hours have a lot of needless "filler" material for no real reason, which, more often than not, results in slow, dragging scenes in the movie or just a boring movie altogether. This particular movie clocked in at just over 2 hours and used every minute wisely. Nothing boring and nothing seemed to drag on forever. I found the beginning with the jury selection particularly interesting. I thought the whole concept of knowing how to get exactly who you want on your jury, even before they actually show up to jury duty, was a little mind blowing. After seeing those scenes, I knew it was going to be a great movie. I highly recommend this movie, especially if you enjoyed movies like Primal Fear, although this is a completely different movie with different kinds of surprises.

Overall, Gene Hackman stole the show in this one and proves why he's been working in movies and television for over 40 years now. I give this 9 out of 10.