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.

Take any John Grisham novel and have it brought to screen, written and directed by Alan J. Pakula (Sophie's Choice, All the President's Men. To Kill a Mockingbird), and add Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington as the leads, and you have a movie that is worthy of 141 minutes of your life.

I love political films. You know that if you have read my reviews. Political thrillers are especially great. This one is well worth watching for the story, the directing, and, most especially, for the lead actors. I do not think that Washington and Roberts have ever disappointed me - OK, there was that License to Kill in 1984.

I won't synopsize - you can get that anywhere - but, I will say that you will not be disappointed. It's not a popcorn movie, you have to put some effort into watching it, but the rewards are great. And the chemistry between Roberts and Washington is fantastic!

Love it. It's an enjoyable story and Julia & Denzel are a deligt to see.

I enjoyed this film very much. It is well acted, and has plenty of star power, with great performances from Roberts and Washington. The story is compelling, and the cinematography lends itself to excellent suspense. However, many moviegoers (including myself) will find elements of the plot confusing and hard to follow. There are a great number of characters, and it is often difficult to tell who is who -- most of the "bad guys" dress alike and have similar hair, so distinguishing them becomes challenging. This may be a minor flaw in either casting or costume, making the characters somewhat undistinguishable. However, it also makes the plot quite intriguing, as the intelligent moviegoer becomes entangled at guessing just exactly who is associated with who, and so on. Still an excellent suspense movie -- if you like other Grisham movies (The Firm, the Rainmaker, etc.) you will like The Pelican Brief. But be warned: watch the film in an attentive state, and be prepared to think a lot. If you are a lazy, sit-back-and-relax type of viewer, this may not be the film for you.

Investigative thrillers are some of my favourite movies, whenever I want to really sink my teeth into something and get absorbed by it, they are my films of choice.

The film carries plenty of tension, urgency and mystery which are the elements you need in this kind of movie.

The acting is first class and the film will not leave you disappointed :)