L'affaire Pélican

JULIA ROBERTS is a damsel in distress when she writes a brief, theorizing what and who was behind the murder of two Supreme Court justices. DENZEL WASHINGTON is the investigative reporter who sees some merit in her theory and reluctantly decides to offer his help in tracking down the bad guys.

It's based on a terrific John Grisham thriller and given a well crafted script, good performances and taut direction from Alan J. Pakula. I'm not a fan of either Roherts or Washington, so for me to praise this movie shows you how suspenseful and entertaining it is as a thriller.

The overrated Julia Roberts is a huge box-office star who never once appealed to me despite her enormous popularity and Denzel Washington is a competent actor who sometimes does extra fine work--but neither one would win a popularity poll with me.

So, with that personal bias showing, I still give THE PELICAN BRIEF a respectable rating because it does what it sets out to do--it keeps you hooked until the ending after a few unexpected plot twists totally in keeping with this kind of story where the heroine is in peril because she knows too much.

Well worth a view.

Another John Grisham novel becomes an entertaining thriller that opens with the murder of two Supreme Court justices. A Tulane law clerk suspects that the killings are too much of a coincidence and suggests that a Louisiana oil magnate and the White House may be involved. Determined to find out the truth, the clerk's research puts her life in danger, which is clear enough when her law professor is killed. Julia Roberts spends most of the film on the run, dodging killers and murder plots. Denzel Washington is a reporter who get pieces of information from an unknown source and eventually Roberts and Washington team up to investigate the assassinations. The film has complicated twists as Roberts and Washington work together to stay out of harm's way as their investigation points its compass at the White House. The supporting cast is great as are all the tech credits and James Horner contributes a nice music score.

The foundation for this movie is the assassination of a couple of disparate Supreme Court justices. Their murders are on the minds of everyone in the country. A noted terrorist is involved in all of this and a character named Darby, played by Julia Roberts, sets out to find the evidence to discover the killer. That's all well and good. But what happens now is a series of murders and cover-ups and disappearances that make one need a scorecard to follow. I love more sophisticated drama and this is certainly one, but soon the President is involved. There is some land in Louisiana that is at the center of a lot of this, but because a rare breed of pelican is in danger, it becomes difficult. Even when the film is over, we don't really have it clear in our minds how things are going to play out. Some issues are settled but what's next. Roberts and Denzel Washington are quite good.

Based on John Grisham's book of the same name, this movie is about the murder of 2 Supreme Court justices, and how a law student gets embroiled in the conspiracy. I would like to start by saying that this is one of the better John Grisham adaptations. Julia Roberts, who does most of the heavy lifting, and Denzel Washington both give terrific performances. The movie also succededs in successfully revealing things to audience before it is revealed to the characters in the movie. The only problem with this movie was it's length, although looking back, I am not sure if anything could've been cut. Also, the film is not as successful in creating tension in the chase sequences. But nitpicking aside, this is a very competent thriller and one that I can recommend to any thriller fan, and any John Grisham fan. P.s. - The only John Grisham adaptation better than this in my opinion is the Firm.

Back in 93 when this film rocked box offices, I was 13 and obsessed with it. I was such a weirdo lol. It was mostly Julia Roberts and she is still one of my favorite actresses. She stars as Darby Shaw a young law student having relations with her professor. She creates a document called the pelican brief as an explanation of why some Judges were murdered. Her lover passes it off to his friend in the bureau and it begins to circulate leaving dead bodies in its wait, Including her boyfriend. Suddenly she's on the run and finds solace when she reaches out to an investigative reporter played by a solid Denzel Washington. Together they must try and survive so that can get the truth out. Watching it now it's still quite entertaining but Roberts is a little over emotional and the actual brief is never fully explained. It's undoubtedly fun but their characters and the plot aren't developed enough to truly be effective. The end it's smart popcorn entertainment.

Budget: $45m Domestic Box Office: $101m Worldwide Box Office: $195m

3.5/5