Alan J. Pakula can usually be counted on to turn in a well honed and engaging film. And while Scott Turow is not one of the great writers of our times he tells a good story. The basic plot is sufficiently textured to augur a gripping movie. But the film disappoints badly. Most distressing is the stiff, wooden, unconvincing and amateurish performance of Harrison Ford. The man has, in all his movies, one tone of voice and one facial expression, which is dangerously close to no facial expression. Ford seems utterly at sea and out of his element in love scenes, where he is painfully embarrassing to watch. As he is at the center of this film, I found myself consistently unable to believe what was portrayed on screen. Disbelief refused to be suspended. Not my fault.
Presumed Innocent builds to a kind of twist, an unexpected re-connecting of the dots which is supposed to knock the audience for a loop. And a good turn it is, on paper. Thing is, on the screen it has to be revealed cinematically, it has to be shown, not told. but what happens is that at the end of the movie, one character simply stands there and talks, monologues, speaks a paragraph or two which do no more than verbally relate the twist. it might as well have been written out on the screen for the audience to quietly read. Dreadful.
The film is by no means a total loss, but it's not very good either.
Presumed Innocent builds to a kind of twist, an unexpected re-connecting of the dots which is supposed to knock the audience for a loop. And a good turn it is, on paper. Thing is, on the screen it has to be revealed cinematically, it has to be shown, not told. but what happens is that at the end of the movie, one character simply stands there and talks, monologues, speaks a paragraph or two which do no more than verbally relate the twist. it might as well have been written out on the screen for the audience to quietly read. Dreadful.
The film is by no means a total loss, but it's not very good either.