UrbanWire

Nicholas Easter (John Cusack) is juror number 9 in a highly contentious court case between a widow and a powerful gun manufacturer who produced the weapon that killed her husband in a random shooting 2 years ago.

Representing the widow is a passionate Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman), who believes in the cause he's fighting for. His opponent in court is not the attorney representing the defendant but a ruthless and arrogant jury consultant, Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman) who, with his team, spy on potential jury members who can be coerced to swing the case in their favour.

"Trials are too important to be left up to juries," says Fitch to the different gun corporation owners. His way of taking the outcome of these into his own hands, is uncovering hidden secrets of jurors blackmail them into favouring his client.

While the case is argued in court, Rohr gets angry and frustrated when Fitch and his team tamper with Rohr's witness testimonials and bribe key witnesses into not showing up for court. However, the courtroom drama escalates both sides learn that juror number 9, Nick Easter has an agenda of his own and a mysterious woman called Marlee (Rachel Weisz) informs both sides that the verdict can be bought for $10 million.

In a desperate attempt to gain control, Fitch has Easter's apartment ransacked and later, burnt. In retaliation, Easter ensures that a juror voting in favour of the gun corporation is dismissed from jury duties and convinces the judge to have the jury sequestered to prevent further tampering with jury votes and blackmail.

A dangerous game is set in play when Fitch goes to all lengths to steal the jury no matter who gets hurt and Rohr's morality is put to the test as he struggles with the dilemma between the court case outcome he promised the widow and what he must do to attain it.

An adaptation from the best-selling book by lawyer-turned-novelist John Grisham, Runaway Jury is a high suspense drama that unfolds to reveal an unexpected end. The producers of the show made a good move when they changed the widow's antagonist from Grisham's tobacco corporation to the gun corporation as it makes the show more relevant to today's audiences after the Columbine shooting.

Veterans Hoffman and Hackman both hit the nail on the hammer in their portrayal of Grisham's Wendell Rohr and Rankin Fitch - Rohr being the fervent do-gooder, who struggles with his morality toward the end and Fitch being the self-important and unrelenting absolutist who has found himself, until now, above losing.

While the film holds the audiences attention throughout most of the court case with the intense struggle on either side to win the case, it weakens towards the end as the twist is not portrayed well. The effect of the verdict and what's at stake for both plaintiff and defendant isn't as suspenseful and climatic as it should have been in the film.

Despite this, Runaway Jury is a film that keeps audiences in suspense for most of it, wondering what might happen next. Unless you've read the book, Runaway Jury will be a thrilling treat.