Criminal Law

There are indications that the script has some interesting things to say about vigilante justice and law enforcement (among other subjects), but they're lost in a film that's much too long, too slow and too dark (when it's night, you can barely make out what's happening). The characters are very sketchy, and the plot has almost no surprises. Perhaps the film would've worked better if Oldman (who's over-the-top as the lawyer) and Bacon had switched roles. (**)

I guess I'm not amongst the average viewers who found this a mediocre film. For sure it is slow-paced in places, but there are some fantastic scenes and great filmography. Oldman is the undoubted star and this is one of the few films in which I quite liked his character. He's a good actor. Bacon is mediocre in this, but the plot although nothing special does allow a great scene in which the baddie (Bacon) fights with Oldman's lastest flame and that is one very very good scene. She fights like a real woman would fight when cornered - feisty, no rules, all instinct, a real cornered rat. That is one cool scene! I reckoned the film was worth watching, just for that alone, but Oldman is good, very good. Questionable hair, but great acting.

I keep seeing the word 'mess' when reading reviews for Criminal Law, & after having watched it for myself - I understand why. Great character leads, a promising plot, & attempts at bringing light to the spectrum of human morality, cannot save the fact that the story crumbles in on itself about halfway into the movie.

Had the writers kept it simple instead of dabbling into the history of the antagonist, Bacon, what with the topic of abortions & the view of good/evil in the eyes of God, it might've made for a more exciting film. It would've garnered a higher rating from me if it hadn't all fallen apart at the end. Characters change into totally different people, their actions not suiting the personality they've established for the audience. In the last 10 minutes, you can see how everything is going to unfold, as much as you may wish it wouldn't... leaving little to no resolution & one of the worst cuts to the credits I've seen. All in all, a decent mess of an 80s thriller.

Criminal Law is a thriller of the first order.

Performances were outstanding by all. The Martin Thiel character, played to dizzy, frightening reality by Bacon, is chilling, to say the least.

The courtroom scenes were excellently written and performed. Oldman, as Ben Chase, acts at a high level as he brings his character through the torturous conflict between his professional ethics and his own humanity. Without, I might add, any British accent showing through, but with a clearly intentional Irish brogue when his blood is up. Nice work, that.

Mark Kasdan--author of Silverado and brother of writer/director/producer Lawrence Kasdan--writes a spare story with immediate suspense. He neatly puts attorney and client in a cat-and-mouse game, where Chase's silence, or betrayal, are equally dangerous for him, and for his love interest, Ellen, played well by Karen Young (Heat, 9-1/2 Weeks).

Elizabeth Shepherd plays the icy mother to perfection. Her blind devotion to her son, along with the absence of any physical display of emotion, are together at the root of the Thiel family dysfunction. This interpersonal rift makes the Martin Thiel character appear stiff and creepy and adds to the confusion and suspense of his innocence or guilt in the string of grisly sex murders that pepper this film.

The use of fire and rain throughout also enrages the imagination and adds clearly to the loathing an animal fear in Criminal Law. It is easy for the viewer to feel stalked or hunted in these parts of the movie--deliciously!

Tess Harper and Joe Don Baker have critical but minor roles, and do nothing to spoil the suspense of it. Both get well into their characters, though, somehow, Harper's Det. Stillwell and Shepherd's Dr. Thiel persona seem too similar...a minor overall script chemistry complaint, at that.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable movie, much better than most we see today almost 20 years hence. Yes, there are minor scripting flaws that I think the true movie-lover will forgive. Any fan of Kevin Bacon and/or Gary Oldman who hasn't seen this film is missing something terrific.

As the last review (by a Mr. J. Sommersby) states, there are some dramatic flaws with Martin Campbell's direction of this film, and, hence, the story line. But if it's got ANYTHING, it's got the magnificence of an early Gary Oldman performance, which is worth just about anything to see. Gary Oldman may play a character who is not very well developed, but he plays him with his usual genius. No matter what movie Gary Oldman is in, he improves it completely.