Lola On Film

Clint Eastwood‘s intriguing courtroom drama Juror #2 (2024) is an honest piece of filmmaking, straightforward and no-nonsense, much like all the actor-director’s work, whether in front or behind the camera. Such is the impact of a forceful personality that it marks its artistic territory without much effort (a contradiction in itself), easily visible when assessing someone’s oeuvre.

The director’s no frills approach is, unfortunately, the key mishap in this intelligently written story (screenwriter Jonathan A. Abrams) of a young man, Justin Kemp (a compellingly earnest Nicholas Hoult), summoned for jury duty on a crime that he, himself, might have unwittingly committed. A woman, Kendall Carter (Francesca Eastwood), had been killed alongside a road, found in a ditch, and her shady boyfriend James (Gabriel Basso) is now on trial for murder. Coincidentally, the exact same evening Justin was in the bar the young pair had a fight in, and while driving hit what he though was a deer, as there was nothing to be seen on the road when he got out of his car. The politically savvy prosecutor Faith Killebrew, cooly portrayed by Toni Collette, specialises in helping victims of domestic abuse, so fostering the sort of tunnel vision a passion for a cause often elicits, she makes a few rushed decisions — no suspect had even been considered as the perpetrator of the crime other than James.

Kemp, the eponymous juror #2, with his lack of malice and a willingness to right a wrong (albeit without personal consequences) tries pushing for a not guilty verdict. Justin is also a recovering alcoholic, with a prior DUI, no less, and his friend and mentor, an attorney, slickly played by Kiefer Sutherland, advises him to keep silent. Kemp’s struggle not to go under the spell of addiction is further aggravated by his wife’s high-risk pregnancy (Zoey Deutch), and a previous miscarriage. Which should all indicate complex dynamics bubbling beneath the golden couple veneer. Yet Eastwood only shows glimpses of their relationship. A less restrained directorial style, allowing for raw and messy interactions, could have plunged into more emotional depth, further exposing the hectic inner workings of a man that finally got it together, faced with the threat of it all being taken away.

What we see of that personal turmoil is fairly brief, because that’s not the genre we are in. So, rather than focusing on the cracks forming in Justin’s ambivalent persona, Eastwood turns a beady eye on the inner workings of the US judicial system, particularly the celebrated and highly flawed process of 12 people deciding a person’s fate, and the possibility of their judgment being wrong. The responsibility for someone else’s destiny is faced by all the assembled jurors, with their pragmatic priorities, morally dented or idealised ideas of what justice is, altruistic or selfish leanings, revealing everyone’s personal stakes in the case.

The brilliant J.K. Simmons, as Harold, the flower-man, and ex-detective, with his deduction of the culprit being a hit-and-run, marks a turning point in the jury’s deliberations, one that began as a sloppy formal process, while the compelling Cedric Yarbrough, as the vengeful Marcus, acts as the proverbial spike in the wheel of justice.

Juror #2 is a quality procedural courtroom drama, investigating the crucial dilemma of the relationship between what is true and and what is just, directed by a man incredibly skilled at his craft. But, it is a pity that in steadily manning this ship, Eastwood stops short each time the actors arrive at a point of inner truth, pulling them back into the broader picture, pushing for the examination of an entire society. It’s the ending, though, unexpected and sharply executed, that reminds us that we are still in the hands of a master storyteller.

★★★☆☆

Author: ©Milana Vujkov