Overview
While serving as a juror in a high profile murder trial, family man Justin Kemp finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma…one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict—or free—the accused killer.
A juror on a high profile murder trial stands alone against the rest of the jurors when they all say the accused is guilty, and he begins trying to convince them that an innocent man is being accused. So far so 12 Angry Men, but the difference here is that the reason this juror, Justin Kemp (played by Nicholas Hoult), says the accused is innocent is because he believes that he is actually responsible for the death of the victim after a hit and run incident a year prior, when on a stormy night he believed he had hit a deer, but the circumstances around the case make him realise it was a person. However, with a wife at home with a child on the way, Justin doesn’t want to confess to the act, and risk his own future, so faces a moral dilemma whilst using all his wit to bring the other jurors around to his line of thinking.
This is potentially the final film from Clint Eastwood, and I have to be honest in saying that over recent history his pieces have become a tad stale. So it was a treat to find that he is exiting the industry with style here with a solid slice of courtroom drama, analysis of morals and ethics, and good old fashioned character driven intensity.
Hoult is great in the lead role, and does so much acting through mild mannerisms or facial expressions – in the early moments of the trial, as the case is presented, his reactions to the realisations of the similarities of the night he suspected he hit a deer play perfectly across his face, coupled with flashbacks to his perception of events, in a masterful combination of acting and editing – star and director really working well together. Justin has a history with alcohol dependency which create additional complications should he come clean about the events of the night, and this constant burden plays through Hoult’s acting in every moment. Additionally the line-up of supporting cast around him more than shine, with JK Simmons and Cedric Yarbrough in particular as other juror members with their own past that influences their reasoning, and Toni Collette as the prosecutor who needs to win this case to secure political points in her running for district attorney.
Playing political aspects, and juggling the morals and ethics around the system of law, this is Eastwood firing on all cylinders, leaving a closing note in his film history to remind us why he is one of the most important filmmakers of the past century. Juror #2 may be case closed for Eastwood, but the verdict here is in his favour.