Juror #2 (2024)

Expectant father "Justin" (Nicholas Hoult) is slated for jury duty and so duly sets off for the selection hoping that he doesn't get picked and that he can return to his wife to await the arrival of their bundle of joy. Sadly, though, they like the cut of his jib and selected he is. It's a murder trial with a man accused of brutally killing his girlfriend after a bar-room brawl. Prosecutor and aspiring DA candidate "Faith" (Toni Collette) thinks it's all in the bag, but defence attorney "Resnick" (Chris Messina) isn't so sure. As the proceedings commence, our second juror gets a bit of a shock. Some of this evidence is proving startlingly evocative. The more he hears of the incident, the more he begins to realise that his job as a juror might prove to be much more personal than he anticipated. With pressure from his wife and his fellow jurors to get it all over with, he has to fight to try and find a way to more fully explore the evidence and luckily he manages to convince one of their number "Harold" (J.K. Simmons) to help him. As the they dig deeper, what might they find and what might they incentivise the prosecutor to find too? I think Hoult holds this together well, and as the audience becomes better briefed on just who did what to whom, director Clint Eastwood still manages to keep the film engaging and tensely paced leaving the audience with quite a moral dilemma as truths start to out and sympathies become severely tested. Simmons supports well, as do Collette and Messina but Kiefer Sutherland appears too sparingly to make much impact on the story so it really is left to us and "Juror #2" to come to terms with what happened and with our own consciences.

'Juror #2' is very, very good! Clint Eastwood just keeps pumping out movies, gotta respect the hustle. As someone who has seen every film of his, evidently now including this 40th (and final?) directorial piece, I'd say that this is one of his best works. He has done much better too, of course, but this 2024 release is impressive enough. It's a clear Eastwood picture, so obviously made by someone from the old days as opposed to something that is undoubtedly made by today's market. It's supremely crafted in most areas, it relies of its fair share of convenience and isn't perfect (e.g. some, only some, of the dialogue is iffy). However, the attention-hooking plot means things never get dull. It does feel like a two hour movie, but I don't necessarily mean that negatively - again, I was never uninterested in what I was watching. The cast are excellent. They are spearheaded by Nicholas Hoult, someone I've found quite meh in other productions but here he merits praise. Chris Messina and Toni Collette are enjoyable in their respective roles, while in more minor parts the likes of J. K. Simmons, Amy Aquino and Cedric Yarbrough are solid. Another plus, away from the faces, is the very pleasing score, so credit to Mark Mancina for the music. *insert joke here about how I missed Juror #1, yet anticipating Juror #3*

"Juror #2" unfolds in an unhurried yet absolutely fascinating way and it is utterly spellbinding to watch juror #2 Justin Kemp as he slowly begins to realise he is becoming increasingly trapped with each passing moment and he has no clear options open to him to effect escape from his predicament and no way to avoid ruination. The film really manages to achieve moments of quiet excitement, especially when more damning pieces of evidence begin to emerge like so much debris rising to the surface of a lake. It is engrossing as the film gradually begins to narrow the focus down to concentrate on Kemp and Faith Killebrew. They both know the true set of circumstances surrounding the night in question and now one of them must step forward and sacrifice the other in order for justice to be done or else the consequences of inaction will be the terrible and corrosive burden of guilt surrounding the crime in question will eventually and inevitably consume and destroy them both. This is a uniformly excellent film on every level which is gripping, interesting, and extremely impressive throughout.

"_Maybe... I didn't hit a deer._" I have so many questions, but can say this did keep me entertainined until the very end. And then it ends in a way that has me asking even more questions!