The Trial

Yet another courtroom drama. The problem with these kind of films is "how do you wrap it up", and The Trial doesn't escape from the same lame ending as many more films before it.

interesting up to a point, the first half of the film qualifies as a "very good, for-TV show", but thats about it. the current 5.8 IMDb vote pretty much sums it up, add the fact that the film itself is not really interesting, and you know you can do better with 90 minutes of your time.

A retiring lawyer whose son just died takes on the defense of a very unlikely young ex-marine, who is obviously being framed for the murder of his fiancée. The only two actors worth mentioning, the two lawyers, go trough the case until the verdict; Then, a rapid - and very unwelcome - change of pace leads to the fast and amateurish end of the film.

The Trial is the very essence of a film that can be missed - it has no redeeming qualities, and although not horrible per se, there is absolutely nothing to keep you interested. Not the kind of rubbish that makes you change the channel, but certainly not something you might want to rent or buy.

4/10

decent but uninvolved acting, recycled script with no conclusion, boring music, and so-so production. Avoid.

Slow and not particularly well acted, "The Trial" stars Matthew Modine in what was possibly a TV pilot.

Modine, one of the producers of this drama, plays Mac, an attorney who has been unable to cope with the horrible deaths of his wife and sons in a car accident. He has not been practicing law and in fact, is about to blow his brains out when a call comes in from a judge (Rance Howard) who wants him to take a case. A young man has been accused of giving a woman drugs and then killing her.

Mac reluctantly takes this on, coming up against a prosecutor (Bob Gunton) who asks for the death penalty. Mac hires an investigator (Robert Forster) and a psychiatrist (Clare Carey) to see what they can find out about what happened and about the psychological makeup of the man himself.

Nothing original about this film or the story. Modine gives a nice performance, as does Forster, one of my favorite actors. The rest of the acting was not impressive, nor was the direction. It possibly had the makings of a TV series, though, with some better pacing and scripts.

Given the fact that this appeared on a Christian channel, our house expected this to have something ultimately it did not have. May I suggest, you do NOT waste your time. There isn't 1 redeeming feature within the 95 minutes of this film which is actually hugely disappointing and has little to do with Christianity. There are many many other things you can find to do in the 95 minutes this lasts which will be more beneficial than sitting through it. The ending, in my view, isn't really that believeable

It's so hard to find a movie lately that is;

• easy to follow
• dialogue you can actually hear and understand
• a good story
• not dropping continuous, solicitous profanities for no apparent reason
• not flashing around in some bizarre time warp
• has a definitive ending that doesn't result in you wanting that small part of your life back.

It isn't a blockbuster but didn't need to be. It is entertaining and we enjoyed it.

THE TRIAL, adapted from Robert Whitlow's novel of the same name by director Gary Wheeler and Mark Freiburger, is in many ways a reminder of what movies used to be - movies that centered on trials of innocent victims or trials that, like TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, surfaced other issues to ponder. This film is a quiet little intimate tale about the justice system in all its elegance and flaws, but it is more: there are human stories that interweave giving the film an aura of caring that is so rare in today's CGI-oriented Hollywood.

The film is set in the beauty of Georgia countryside, complete with mists and fields and rivers where we first see attorney Mac MacClain (Matthew Modine), pensive after the accidental death of his wife and two children nine years ago. His practice has fallen, his mental sate has fallen below the flatline state, and he is contemplating suicide when a telephone call from the wise old town judge (Rance Howard) summons him to take on a case of the murder of one Angela Hightower, the young and beautiful daughter of the wealthiest man in the little town, the corrupt Hightower family being part of Mac's sad past encounters. The accused is Angela's boyfriend Pete Thomason (an impressive Randy Wayne) who is now in jail claiming he had total amnesia for the event. Mac feels a sense of responsibility to the boy and agrees to take on the case, hiring back his assistant Mindy (Nikki Deloach) and his investigator Ray (Robert Forster). As they uncover facts Mac seeks advice from psychologist Dr. Anna Wilkes (Clare Carey) who in addition to testing Pete finds time to share her Grieving Group Sessions with Mac.

The evidence is gathered and the trial begins after a plea bargain is denied by Pete. The Hightower lawyer is the brilliant, eloquent but ruthless Joe Whetstone (a fine performance by Bob Gunton) and the battle of wits and rights is on. The courtroom drama is well written and the turn of events from the trial to the followup findings and second trial are well molded. If the film ends in a too saccharine mode, the quality of acting in the film before that should make the audience tolerate the preachiness. There are some fine cameos -Larry Bagby, Burgess Jenkins, Brett Rice among them - and there is much to learn about contemporary youth habits and small town tenor. This is not a great film, but it is a refreshing memory of the small and intimate films of yesteryear.

Grady Harp