Impasse meurtrière

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!

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.

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

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.

Ned Stark is the Assistant DA on a clear case of murder. On the day of sentencing the father of the accused pleads with the jury to not give his son the death sentence. When he is removed from the stand he draws a gun and takes the jury hostage. Blaming his son's poor defence for the outcome of the trial, he demands to see Stark and gives him an ultimatum – 24 hours to build a defence for his son and prove his innocence or at least a reasonable doubt.

I wouldn't call myself a `fan' of Caruso, but I did like him in NYPD Blue and, since he has done the same performance in everything he's done since, I tend to watch things that he's in – which brings to this movie. I'm not a lover of courtroom thrillers with their last minute twists and shock endings, but I can get into them if they are exciting and pretty tight. However this film is anything but; built on the thinnest of plots with almost no logic to speak of it was doomed from less than 15 minutes in. An exciting and quite good final 10 minutes don't make up for anything and it isn't very good.

The plot relies heavily on Demond Doyle not standing up for himself and telling his lawyer about evidence that proves his whereabouts – the reason he keeps quiet are very poorly put forward and are clumsily put down to the `black man's lot is not a happy lot'! It moves past this as quickly as possible, hoping we'll just accept it as fact and not question it. The rest of the film is daft, as Stark makes easy work of the clues that somehow no one else had time to even consider.

The film also has a laughable scene that stood out so much that I much mention it. Caruso chases a suspect down alleys and over wasteland. When it is clearly Caruso himself you can see that he runs like a woman compared to the perp he is chasing! However he is replaced by a stunt double for much of the scene; a stunt double, may I add, who looks nothing like him and who's red wig is about twice the size of Caruso's own barnet!

Despite this, Caruso is alright if you like him – like I said, he's doing nothing new. Dutton is stronger and hams it up well when given the chance. The support cast are all pretty much TV quality at best and they just fill the gaps really. Only Jonz stands out as the accused – he does OK despite the totally unbelievable situation surrounding his character!

Overall, a poor film where the word `thriller' can only be ascribed to the final 10 minutes (and even then, only if you swallow the whole unlikely setup). Not really worth watching, the plot is just far too weak to do anything with and the cracks show from the very start.