Primal Fear
Basically the film that will always be remembered as the one that unleashed the tremendous acting talents of Edward Norton on the world, this also manages to be a solid, if flawed, courtroom drama. As Aaron Stampler, altar boy turned accused murderer, Norton manages to convince the viewer (and the other characters) of his innocence and naïve mindset, but when Aaron’s true self comes out, he commands the screen like few others. Gere, for his part, contributes his stock cocky, self-assured, but charisma-free performance as Stampler’s lawyer, a dry run for his tap-dancing sleaze in Chicago; Linney as his ex-lover (and prosecuting attorney) does well showing us a woman with her back against the wall; Alfre Woodard’s no-nonsense judge acquits herself fine; Mahoney’s possibly corrupt DA makes a good heartless bastard; McDormand’s psychiatrist seems to take forever to figure out something’s amiss with the defendant, but she tries her best as an actress; Maura Tierney is smoking hot as Gere’s assistant; Braugher gets some decent dry humorous moments; and it’s always nice to see Steven Bauer getting some work, even if his role results in one of the movie’s biggest flaws: The story gets too sidetracked with the notion that Gere is trying to expose Mahoney and the other city officials as being corrupt and possibly with a motive to commit the murder in question, when it would have been best to keep things focused on Norton and the revealing of his true nature. Also, the script seems to play fast and loose with the rules of courtroom procedure (jury selection goes by in the blink of an eye), and some of Gere’s trial theatrics come across as hard to swallow. The murder itself, though, is given some nice gory emphasis, but in the end, it all comes back to Norton, stealing all his scenes and possibly being robbed of an Oscar for a character that would go on to have a whole series of books detailing his exploits (could make for a hell of a sequel). The film’s final moments are indeed bloodcurdling due solely to his acting, as even then one wonders just what is the true person underneath this stuttering, polite to a fault young man. Ultimately, a good, but not great suspense thriller that started the career of one of the most exceptional acting talents working today…
8/10