Deadlocked

Deadlocked was a fast-paced, up-to-date TV movie which gave a realistic view of our criminal justice system. David Caruso and Charles Dutton were excellent in their portrayals of this system. David Caruso, as always, gave a superb performance!

At home in Seattle, Washington, deputy district attorney David Caruso (as Ned Stark) appears to be having trouble understanding his school-aged son Lorne Stewart (as Cory Stark). At work, Mr. Caruso convicts Jo D. Jonz (as Demond Doyle) of raping and bludgeoning a woman to death. The evidence against Mr. Jonz is overwhelming and it's considered an "open and shut" case. Jonz' priors include violent arrests and gang participation. The convicted man's father Charles S. Dutton (as Jacob Doyle) has arrived during sentencing. Estranged from his son for the past four years, Mr. Dutton interrupts the (death) penalty proceedings by grabbing the bailiff's guns to take the jury and victim's husband hostage...

Dutton is sure his son did not commit the crime. He demands prosecutor Caruso re-open the investigation to prove his son innocent, or Dutton will start killing off jurors. There are some major problems, here. Dutton is convinced his son is completely innocent, but offers little proof. He also appears quite ready to commit mass murder...

There is a parallel drawn between Caruso and Dutton, as fathers. The issues of race and socio-economic status are used well, but the comparison fails because Caruso has no idea whether or not is son is guilty of the problem reported at school. Caruso doesn't know, but Dutton does; it doesn't make sense, unless there is a race and/or class distinction being made. As the story unfolds, we are also puzzled by the son's failure to discuss the case. There is little interaction with the victim's husband, Malcolm Stewart (as Richard Castlemore). Considering what happened, you'd expect these individuals would have a lot more to say about the crime. Despite these concerns, "Deadlocked" is an engaging and nicely acted TNT Movie.

****** Deadlocked (6/18/00) Michael W. Watkins ~ David Caruso, Charles S. Dutton, Jo D. Jonz, Lorne Stewart

A young man is accused of rape and murder and sentenced to death. During the sentencing, the boys father takes the jury hostage convinced of his son's innocence.

The boys defender has 14 hours to find evidence to disprove the verdict, or the jury dies.

It's a good movie, well filmed and keeps it taut throughout. The only problem I have with it is that the defender finds so much overlooked evidence so quickly. Also, the ending could have been better, instead of it finishing with the gun totting morons of the SWAT team.

If you get the chance, it's well worth watching next time it's on TV.

Excellent movie depicting our system's expediency to get a guilty verdict without examining all evidence. The story is compelling and allows us to stake a claim as we discover the question of justice especially when the verdict could be death for the defendant.

This is a well made, made for TV movie. Nothing too impressive but certainly good enough and enjoyable to kill some time with.

The story is nothing special, although the concept, of the father of a murder suspect taking the entire jury of the trail hostage, itself is pretty good and interesting. The movies does have its moments but it has lots of missed opportunities as well. Such as the fact that the husband of the murdered wife is also among the hostages, is an highly underused story element. They could have made more out of this, such as some interesting and heated confrontations between the suspect and the husband but nothing ever happens with the husband at all. Really a missed opportunity there.

But sure, the movie also has its expected flaws and it lacks in credibility at times. Still the movie and its story work effective enough to keep you watching till the end. It isn't terribly exciting and to be honest it also was quite predictable but the way the movie is constructed and the way the story is told, provides the movie with some good sequences and moments.

Also the two main leads are a reason why the movie works effective enough and serves its purpose. David Caruso is a convincing leading man and Charles S. Dutton is good as the hostage taker. He portrays his character very humane and understandable. Most of the other characters aren't really interesting enough, mainly because they don't play a prominent enough role in the movie.

It all in all was a better than expected, made for TV thriller with some good moments that mainly works because of the two main actors of the movie. It's a movie well worth watching if the opportunity is there but obviously by no means a must-see.

6/10

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