Juror #2 (2024) Review: Nicholas Hoult Leads Clint Eastwood’s Engrossing Legal Thriller
Clint Eastwood’s latest directorial effort Juror #2 boasts an intriguing question: What if the juror on a murder trial turns out to be a killer himself? That juror in question is Justin Kemp played by Nicholas Hoult, a recovering alcoholic who works as a journalist and has a wife Ally (Zoey Deutch) pregnant with their baby. She previously had a miscarriage a year ago and going through the pregnancy period all over again made her anxious most of the time. Justin tries his best to be as supportive as possible, ensuring everything is alright.
When he is summoned for jury duty revolving around the murder case of Kendall Carter (Francesca Eastwood), who is found dead at the bottom of a ravine, the trial looks cut and dried. The defendant is her boyfriend James Sythe (Gabriel Basso), who attracts unwanted attention when he quarrels with Carter the night before at a roadside bar during a rainy night. Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette), the prosecutor who’s currently running for district attorney, has clear evidence that witnesses confirmed Sythe was drunk and temperamental during that night. Not to mention an eyewitness (Tom Thon) saw Sythe at the time of the murder.
Sythe’s defense lawyer, Eric Resnick (Chris Messina) believes his client is innocent. And yet, the evidence gathered looks set for Sythe to go to the prison, leaving Justin and the rest of the jurors — among them includes a former homicide detective Harold (J.K. Simmons), Marcus (Cedric Yarbrough) and foreperson Denice (Leslie Bibb) — to have their deliberations take place behind closed doors before reaching a verdict. At first, most of them agree to vote that Sythe is guilty. But what could have been a quick verdict stretches longer than expected, particularly after Justin starts to disagree.
Clint Eastwood may have been 94 years old at the time Juror #2 was released but he still has what it takes to make a riveting thriller. The kind of adult-skewing movie that makes you say they don’t make them like they used to, particularly the one relying on the acting and storytelling to hold your attention. Juror #2 also gives me the old-school vibe of a John Grisham-style legal thriller used to populate Hollywood in the mid-to-late 1990s era.
Working from Jonathan Abram’s debut screenplay, the story is taut and thought-provoking in exploring one’s guilt and living in denial as Justin is seen increasingly conflicted serving as a juror. His guilt consumes him from inside out and yet, with his baby on the way and Ally needing him more than ever, surrendering himself isn’t a viable option. Eastwood’s typically economical direction works well in his favour, even though Yves Bélanger’s flat cinematography makes me feel like I’m watching a made-for-TV drama. Well, ironically, Juror #2 was originally set for a straight-to-streaming release on Max, only to bump it up to a limited theatrical release after the trailer gained significantly favourable responses.
Still, the drab visuals don’t deter me much from enjoying the movie. Kudos goes to Eastwood for bringing out the best in most of his cast, notably Hoult’s engaging lead performance as the guilt-ridden Justin Kemp.
He is backed by solid support from Toni Collette’s no-nonsense prosecutor Faith Killebrew to Chris Messina’s charismatic defense attorney Eric Resnick and J.K. Simmons’ astute Harold, who is sceptical about the whole case of James Sythe being guilty. The downside of Simmons’ Harold is that I find it strange the way his character is being glossed over later in the movie. The same also goes for Kiefer Sutherland’s Larry Lasker, who is Justin’s Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor and happens to be a lawyer as well. Like Simmons, Sutherland’s role may have been crucial to the story but ultimately ends up with a hastily written character.
Despite the shortcomings, Juror #2 remains one of the better late-career movies from Clint Eastwood especially after his disappointingly mundane Western drama Cry Macho three years ago.
