![]() The first plot bombshell goes off when Goodman digs up a videotape of the bishop romping naked with four kids, including Aaron. With his trusty team of assistants-Naomi, the beautiful black paralegal the Judge, retired, who gives Vail bench-advice boxer-turned-law-student Tommy Goodman-Vail works furiously on a defense, checking Aaron's background by sending Goodman to the boy's Kentucky hometown (where Goodman sleeps with Aaron's high-school teacher and learns that she'd slept often with Aaron). ![]() The case against Aaron looks airtight, especially with Vail's nemesis, high-powered Jane Venable (``She was just like Vail-no prisoners'') prosecuting. Area powerbrokers take vengeance by sticking Vail with the pro bono defense of angelic- looking Aaron Stampler, 19, found holding a bloody knife near the room where Chicago's ``saint'' of a bishop has been sliced into chopped meat. Martin Vail is Chicago's hottest attorney, a prickly Wunderkind who's just won a $7.6 million lawsuit filed by a mobster against the county, city, and state. Here, in his strongest yarn in years, Diehl jumps on the legal-thriller bandwagon, with a nod to psychothrillers as well. The last minute of Primal Fear turned the period into a question mark.Though Diehl never breaks new thriller-ground, he generally does a fine job of hoeing others' rows-from the cop-novel Sharky's Machine (1978) through the mob novel Hooligans (1984) and the Nazi- conspiracy novel 27 (1990). Not many films can leave me feeling exactly how the protagonist ends up.Īlone, disgusted & ashamed. ![]() I feel as dirty as he does for taking part. But they turned my own love for the main character against me. I knew how it would shake out & - in my heart - I did know Roy was the real identity. ![]() Like many would've guessed, I believed Aaron/Roy was a load of crap up until it became necessary for that to be real in order for Vail to succeed. Roy was caught dead to rights, his story was over & he knew it. He talked a big game, but when push came to shove - that he's battered the memory of the Archbishop, likely ruined the DA, sabotaged his relationship with Janet & ruined his relationships with his colleagues - he kept his head held high because he felt like justice was done. It was about deconstructing a good man doing bad deeds & how that makes him easy prey for the wicked. I didn't recognise up until the last 5 minutes that this was never about Aaron or Roy. He was handshaking the Devil & expecting to be let go. I truly believed he was bettering himself & digging himself out from under the life he's made. I'd spent the whole film not realising I was growing quite attached to Martin Vail's quest to prove himself a good person deep down. Murder, only 1 suspect, theories failing at every turn, the shock reveal, struggling to get it into the case, failure, clock ticking, one brilliant trick & they've won the case just in time. The writing & performances are the core here, everything else is secondary. But the show stealer was obviously Ed Norton. Richard Gene is always great in whatever he's in & I particularly liked Laura Linney's portrayal of a woman he's recently made it herself & is fully aware of how everything is going against her. I know the formula well & had fun with Primal Fear up until then. Call me a sucker for the formula, but I've always liked the slow descent of the representative getting personally involved, facing their problems, struggling at every turn & ultimately, pulling out a win at the last possible second. Anyway onto my thoughts - which thankfully in contrast to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood - I absolutely adored.
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