vnd238
Here's what I find in this movie:lots of cussing lots of gore grisly reports of serial rapes & murders mostly non-credible events and characters' behavior little relation to actual legal procedures another wooden performance by Sean Connery (works for Red October, fails here)+ intense drama + strong performance by Ed Harris as an insane serial rapist/murderer + a few effective shocksDo your own sum. I almost quit watching at a few different points, but kept hoping for improvement. I wish I had quit: the longer I watched, the less believable the plot and the more annoying the flaws. For my entertainment time and dollars, I thought this was mostly a waste.
FlashCallahan
Bobby Earl is facing the electric chair for the murder of a young girl. Eight years after the crime he calls in Paul Armstrong, a professor of law, to help prove his innocence. Armstrong quickly uncovers some overlooked evidence to present to the local police, but they aren't interested - Bobby was their killer......Its strange to think that Connery had very few films left in him when this was released, there were a few prolific ones, The Rock, LXG, Entrapment, but it's really strange that he decided to this, because he doesn't really add anything to the film.Its Fishbourne, and a brilliant Harris, that make this film standout, and compared to them, Connery is left in the stands watching the world go by,which is a shame, because he's usually a wonderful screen presence.The plot reminds one of those slow burning Bayou thrillers of old, everyone's sweating, wiping their faces, and hiding secrets from one another.But for the most part, its Connery approaching different characters, asking for his motivation, and then ringing up Kate Capshaw to have an argument.The final third involves a car chase, crocodiles, and Scarlett Johanssen, but by the time the big twist is revealed, you feel cheated because its basically turned the twist onto a 360, if you would.Watchable, but pointless, Harris is wonderful...
museumofdave
How does a director cast Sean Connery, Laurence Fishburne, Ruby Dee and Ed Harris in the same film, set it in the deep south with the potential of atmosphere and suspense galore, start off with a pretty nifty premise concerning a man unjustly sentence to the chair--and come up with a turkey? Just Cause churns along at a fairly nifty pace until about midway, and pretty soon we have car chases, mad scenes, rotting corpses, smelly swamps and the whole panoply of predictable plot lines any seasoned moviegoer can spot while making a good lasagna casserole. My suggestion is to invite the neighbors over for the casserole and forget this movie--unless you might enjoy Ed Harris doing his own hysterical version of Hannibal Lecter, chains and all, It's as if nobody around was given a script until the last minute, and being professionals, they all did their best--but the last half was never delivered and so there were some noble attempts at improvisation that didn't quite work.
floridacinemaster
Good movie until it spirals out of control at the end. I'm glad someone FINALLY showed NATIVE Floridians. Yes, we do live here (my family's been here for five generations) and there are plenty of us in inland Florida and the Panhandle. Despite what another poster said, most Floridians are from here and still Southern. So, I'm glad to find a movie that portrays we Floridians as we are. That and Ed Harris' character did it for me. Ed Harris truly did a superb job and I loved the mention of Florida State, but the ending was terrible and absurd and featured Laurence Fishburne's on screen daughter talking like a Northerner and letting a strange man (Connery) walk into her house. Anyways, the last 30 minutes was a complete waste of time, but I only really liked it because I'm a Floridian and was proud to see the scenery - even though the constant alligator was a nuisance and cliché.
AD
