No Suspense/Tension and too slow
Retired lawyer Mac (Modine) receives a telephone call from a judge who wants him to defend Pete Thompson (Wayne) who was arrested for killing Angela, his girl friend, and he has no memory of what happened that fateful night.
This has all the feel of a made-for-TV movie, but very slow, perhaps too slow. We wait, too often, for characters to say their lines to a point we get tired of waiting and we scream out the lines we think are forthcoming. And, most times we are correct.
We understand about predictability, and we go along with it because we know that it's in the telling that the story works. But, here it was just too slow. Maybe that is why Mac's legal assistant, Mindy, goes somewhat overboard with her exuberance which was a complete contrast from everyone else. In other words she was too bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when that was not called for, but the director allowed it. I thought she was annoying because of it, but, maybe she knew this needed some life. She wasn't wrong. Some may think she was a breath of fresh air in here. Hmmm .
The clues were good, but there was no suspense or tension, and for a courtroom drama that hurts big time. Some logic flew out the window at times. Can't mention what logic as that gives away too much. Sorry (but it had much to do with motive, shhhhhh ..). The audience was forgotten. You know, the more I think about it, maybe this wasn't good enough to be a made-for-TV movie. At least I see tension and suspense in many TV dramas. Here everything was monotone, low-key, level, bland. Well, except for Mindy, of course.
Violence: Yes, very little. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.
This has all the feel of a made-for-TV movie, but very slow, perhaps too slow. We wait, too often, for characters to say their lines to a point we get tired of waiting and we scream out the lines we think are forthcoming. And, most times we are correct.
We understand about predictability, and we go along with it because we know that it's in the telling that the story works. But, here it was just too slow. Maybe that is why Mac's legal assistant, Mindy, goes somewhat overboard with her exuberance which was a complete contrast from everyone else. In other words she was too bright-eyed and bushy-tailed when that was not called for, but the director allowed it. I thought she was annoying because of it, but, maybe she knew this needed some life. She wasn't wrong. Some may think she was a breath of fresh air in here. Hmmm .
The clues were good, but there was no suspense or tension, and for a courtroom drama that hurts big time. Some logic flew out the window at times. Can't mention what logic as that gives away too much. Sorry (but it had much to do with motive, shhhhhh ..). The audience was forgotten. You know, the more I think about it, maybe this wasn't good enough to be a made-for-TV movie. At least I see tension and suspense in many TV dramas. Here everything was monotone, low-key, level, bland. Well, except for Mindy, of course.
Violence: Yes, very little. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: No.
- bob-rutzel-1
- Nov 29, 2010