James Woods gives a striking performance here, working with a fascinating eccentric character, but otherwise there is little in the way of virtues. The first half of the film is far too slow moving, taking much too long to build up, and then the second half of it is as randomly assembled as a tossed salad, going off on tangents here and there, without much logic, and totally lacking in any sense of time. The scenes in the first half lack excitement, and the courtroom sequences in the second half lack intensity. In addition, it is always too dark, with characters constantly set up in the shadows, and although the first half is arguably competently filmed, the final hour is a mess. The overall execution is extremely uneven, which makes it hard to recommend this film, except to followers of James Woods, who should be impressed with his delivery here.
Review of The Onion Field
