Presumed Innocent Review

Most people don't have the time, money, or energy to watch a lot of movies, so when you do get a chance to watch something, you want it to be good. That's why Rotten Tomatoes exists: to give a snapshot of whether a movie is worth your time. But does it always work? I'll be watching all of Rotten Tomatoes’ Certified Fresh movies from this Wikipedia list starting in the year 1990, the decade I was born, and we'll see if these movies are really worth the hype.

Movie 14 of 1990:

Presumed Innocent, directed by Alan J. Pakula, is a courtroom drama that falls a little flat. Harrison Ford plays prosecutor Rusty Sabich, who is accused of killing a co-worker. Things get complicated when it is revealed that married Rusty was actually having an affair with her. Most of the movie then focuses on the trial and the quest to find out what really happened.

I far preferred the Presumed Innocent miniseries starring Jake Gyllenhaal. It was far less boring than this movie was, and my cardinal sin for movies is being boring. However, I do believe this movie was a more accurate portrayal of the book, which is probably what they were going for. Something about this movie just felt very flat and lifeless. I couldn't stay engaged, even though I knew the story was a bit different from the mini-series I'd already seen.

Unfortunately, I didn't really buy Harrison Ford in this role. He didn't do a bad job at all because he is a great actor. I just felt like he didn't bring the necessary amount of sleaze to Rusty. This is a man who cheated on his wife with a co-worker, harassed the coworker when she broke it off, and remained obsessed with this woman even after she was murdered. I think this story works best when you think there's a possibility that Rusty could have done this, and I didn't get that from Ford at all. He seemed too much like a bit of a naive nice guy.

The best part of this movie for me was by far Raul Julia as Rusty's defense attorney. He was the charismatic, slick lawyer who really injected life into the courtroom scenes. None of the characters really got any development outside of  Rusty, but Julia was still very fun to watch and did the best with what he had. Characters who got no development were mostly the women. Rusty's wife, Barbara (Bonnie Bedelia), doesn't get the screen time necessary for ensuring The Twist at the end is satisfying, as she just follows the beleaguered housewife stereotype. Carolyn (Greta Scacchi), the victim of the crime, is essentially presented as a woman who sleeps with her superiors to get what she wants, and that's it. I think the flashback to her in court with a child was supposed to add development, but I just saw a lawyer asking leading questions and an inaccurate portrayal of a courtroom.

Overall, I really do think the mini-series was better. I understand there's only so much you can do in a 2-hour movie, but the lack of character development, especially for the female characters, really made me bored. I think the casting in the series is better, and what they chose to add and subtract from the source material did the story a lot more justice. Again, the worst thing a movie can be for me is boring.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

Is it worth the hype?:

Not really. The story was predictable, the visuals were flat, and the characters weren't really that interesting. I love a courtroom drama, but this one just didn't grab me like I was hoping. Give the mini series a shot instead if this story is intriguing to you.