Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Maidgethma Wonderfully offbeat film!

Daninger very weak, unfortunately

Delight Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

dierregi In the early 90s Grisham and Turow were the golden boys of legal drama. They churned out novel after novel, followed by movies of decreasing success. "Presumed Innocent", adapted from a long novel by Turow, is one of the first of these movies.Grisham plots tend to be rather simple, Turow's are more labyrinthine, with a large dose of politics added to the thriller. While a larger scope may benefit a novel, it is definitely detrimental to this movie.Rusty Sabich, played by a Harrison Ford in top form, is a chief deputy D.A. struggling with a guilty conscience. Rusty is assigned to investigate the brutal murder of his secret ex-lover and colleague Carolyn (an equally enthralling Scacchi). He proceeds, despite the huge conflict of interest.All clues point to him as the murderer, so we are given to believe that despite feeling bad about smashing his ex-lover's head, he will still try to cheat justice.The very long and politically incorrect "investigation" shows Carolyn in flashbacks, as somebody who had it coming. Rusty digs at some old case of corruption, involving political enemies and manages to drag this unrelated dirty laundry to court, leading to a mistrial.However, the truth is revealed at the end: the killer is actually Barbara, Rusty's frustrated - and deranged - wife. She plotted the murder for months in meticulous creepy details. The audience is left with Rusty planning to atone by spending the rest of his life with his nutty wife, because she is the mother of his child…. not a smart move, considering how revengeful she is…What could have been a passable thriller with a decent surprise-ending is spoiled and watered down by the political sub-plot. A tighter story at least 30 minutes shorter could have made for a more engaging view, the courtroom scenes are long and outdated and the dialogue is repetitive, with silly gags such as the judge purposely and childishly mispronouncing the name Della Guardia every time he gets a chance (which is way too often).

SnoopyStyle D.A. Raymond Horgan (Brian Dennehy) is in a heated election. Rusty Sabich (Harrison Ford) is his deputy with wife Barbara (Bonnie Bedelia) and son. Young prosecutor Carolyn Polhemus (Greta Scacchi) is brutally murdered and Horgan assigns the case to Rusty. Rusty had slept with Carolyn which his wife already knows. Carolyn was also investigating a corrupt unknown prosecutor. Rusty's friend Det. Lipranzer (John Spencer) is investigating her murder. Horgan loses to Nico Della Guardia and his deputy Tommy Molto starts to prosecute Rusty. The case Carolyn was working on seems to lead to Tommy Molto. With all sides closing in, Rusty turns to defense lawyer Sandy Stern (Raul Julia).I am much more interested in the murder mystery than the courtroom maneuvers. I would have loved following the case in the shoes of an investigator. By concentrating on the court case, that take the emphasis away from trying to find the truth. Courtroom scenes are not always the most dramatic for me. There are a couple of compelling turns but I find the courtroom not that energetic. The reveal is very compelling but I wish Rusty had solved the case during the trial.

alannasser Alan J. Pakula can usually be counted on to turn in a well honed and engaging film. And while Scott Turow is not one of the great writers of our times he tells a good story. The basic plot is sufficiently textured to augur a gripping movie. But the film disappoints badly. Most distressing is the stiff, wooden, unconvincing and amateurish performance of Harrison Ford. The man has, in all his movies, one tone of voice and one facial expression, which is dangerously close to no facial expression. Ford seems utterly at sea and out of his element in love scenes, where he is painfully embarrassing to watch. As he is at the center of this film, I found myself consistently unable to believe what was portrayed on screen. Disbelief refused to be suspended. Not my fault.Presumed Innocent builds to a kind of twist, an unexpected re-connecting of the dots which is supposed to knock the audience for a loop. And a good turn it is, on paper. Thing is, on the screen it has to be revealed cinematically, it has to be shown, not told. but what happens is that at the end of the movie, one character simply stands there and talks, monologues, speaks a paragraph or two which do no more than verbally relate the twist. it might as well have been written out on the screen for the audience to quietly read. Dreadful. The film is by no means a total loss, but it's not very good either.

tieman64 Alan J. Pakula, known primarily for his conspiracy movies ("Klute", "The Parallax View", "Rollover", "The Pelican Brief", "All the President's Men"), directs "Presumed Innocent", a very good if somewhat conventional courtroom drama.The film stars Harrison Ford as a talented prosecutor who becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a colleague with whom he had an adulterous affair. The film's first act is very slow, its second act is a fun exercise in paranoia, courtroom pyrotechnics and dispensed red herrings, and the film's climax is excellent, until, of course, Pakula's real killer is revealed. Films like this rely heavily on misdirection. The audience likes to be kept guessing. It's difficult to then reveal the killer and not have your audience feel somewhat cheated.Like many of Pakula's films, "Presumed Innocent" maintains an ominous tone throughout, and there is always the feeling of off screen characters plotting, conspiring and moving our heroes about like pawns. The film was part of a wave ("Fatal Attraction", "Final Analysis", "Basic Instinct", "Jade", "Disclosure", "Single White Female", "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle", "The Last Seduction", "Body Heat", "After Dark My Sweet" etc) of psycho-sexual thrillers which exhibited a new breed of femme fatale. Hilariously, while these films unconsciously exhibited a fear of female independence, women and a threat to traditional female gender roles, male action heroes around this time (1980s, early 90s) were responding by getting ridiculously muscular, physical, phallic and barbaric, desperately hoping to cling to fading notions of traditional masculinity. Today, everyone's metrosexual. You can't even conceive of a "Fatal Attraction" being released and making money today. An angry, murderous wife? Oh my goodness, why didn't the husband recognise the warning signs, take the kids and leave? 7.5/10 – Like most directors who did their best work in the 70s, Pakula's latter output struggles to juggle art, commerce, personal taste and popcorn expectations. Worth one viewing.