Majikat
The late Brad Renfro, , was such a talented young actor, who seemed much older than his years. A boy amongst adults in this John Grisham novel turned big screen movie, leading a cast of big names. A decent storyline of streetwise kid v's the mafia makes for a memorable film.
Neil Welch
12 year old Mark Sway and his younger brother Ricky witness a suicide: Ricky is shocked into catatonia. The suicide lawyer may have told Mark the location of a mob murder victim, so Mark is a possible target. Ambitious district attorney Roy Foltrigg wants to question Mark: aware that Foltrigg may not have his best interests at heart, Mark engages Reggie as his lawyer, but Reggie has her own problems.This is a good film: had it avoided the rather too obvious (and unnecessary) chase elements, it would have been a great film. Susan Sarandon's Reggie is human and believable, and Tommy Lee Jones' Foltrigg is clever, annoying, and funny - both are terrific performances.But the young Brad Renfro in his first performance is magnetic, and the film is at its best when he's running rings round the adults. His death at 25 and the downward spiral which led to it were absolutely tragic.
Gordon Brooks
I realize that a film does not need to, and in many cases should not, slavishly follow the book from which it's derived. But the screenwriters on this film would have done well to pay more attention to how Grisham built the personalities of his characters. These were not the people who made the novel such a great read. I didn't care about them nearly as much, and the interpersonal tensions between characters were often added as an easy way to put conflict in individual scenes, while taking away from the overall conflict and suspense of the story.I felt the same way about action sequences in the story. They just felt like cheap shots, and didn't advance the plot or my understanding of the characters of the situation.Trying to consider this as a standalone movie, without considering the book, it still feels forced and contrived. I can't fault the actors for this; I think they did the best with what they had. But the screenwriters, and to a lesser extent the director, really let me down.
namashi_1
Based on the novel of the same name by John Grisham, 'The Client', directed by Joel Schumacher, in an interesting thriller, that also packs in memorable performances by it's lead-cast.'The Client' tells the story of a eleven-year old boy, who, witnesses the suicide of a lawyer whose client is in the mob, and a female attorney, who, tries to protect him. Joel Schumacher's body of work is a mixed bag. However, 'The Client', can surely rank amongst his better works. He has handled a couple of sequences with ease. However, I would like to state, that, the writing loses pace in it's final 30-minutes. And thus, the desired impact gets distracted. If it had been better or should I say more crisper, this flick would've been a classic affair! Tony Pierce-Roberts's Cinematography is good. Editing is fine.Performance-Wise: As told before, the lead casts pack in memorable performances. Susan Sarandon is excellent as the female lawyer. Brad Renfro does a sincere job. Tommy Lee Jones is superb as the calculative U.S. Attorney. Mary-Louise Parker is good. J. T. Walsh is effective.On the whole, 'The Cilent' is A Good Film in all respects. Definitely worth a watch!
AD
