Just Not Good Enough (Just Cause (DVD))

Member Name: fooyoo

Product:	Just Cause (DVD)
Date:	20/10/04 (929 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It passed time

Disadvantages: Weak plot, Poor casting

The tag line to this film is “Buried deep in the Florida Everglades is a secret that can save an innocent man or let a killer kill again”. Now, as someone who really enjoys a good thriller, this looked like it would be just up my street. I duly paid a few pounds for it from Ebay, (which is why I am only reviewing it now, when it is nearly 10 years old), and began to watch with baited breath.

We are quickly introduced to Harvard teacher, Paul Armstrong, played by the unmistakeable Sean Connery. He is taking part in a talk/debate about the rights and wrongs of capital punishment. He is not getting it all his own way, and when victim’s rights are raised, he ends up coming off second best. A woman has been watching Armstrong’s debate, and it is immediately clear that her motive is not to hear him speak. She approaches him and asks him to help her get her grandson off Death Row. Without much persuasion, and totally against the grain (as he has not been in a courtroom as lawyer for over two decades), he agrees to help, and is unaware of the atmosphere it will create in the local town.

Next, we are introduced to the Death Row inmate, Bobby Earl Ferguson, played by Blair Underwood, and it is at this point that the film runs into difficulty. Underwood is too much of a pretty boy to be considered for the part of a convicted child rapist, murderer and drug dealer. He lacks the aggression that is needed to make this character believeable. We are told that before his conviction, he had gone straight and become a successful student with a promising university place offered to him. This is believeable, but there would still be traces of the old bad boy, and this man is portayed as holier than Jesus at times! He is not a stranger to Armstrong, as we soon learn that Armstrong’s wife Laurie prosecuted a case where Bobby was accused of child kidnap, but claimed he was set up. Small world eh?

Bobby Earl’s defence centres around the fact that he was beaten into giving a confession by a team of officers led by Officer Brown, played by the highly watchable Laurence Fishburne. Brown is adamant that at the end of the day, the right man is serving time, and refuses to consider than anything untoward has gone on, and it is from here I just began to dread the inevitable, predictable plot twists, and without giving anything away, my fears were to prove true.

There is the frankly unnecessary inclusion of serial killer Blair Sullivan, played by Ed Harris, who is held with Earl, and hints at having important information. The scriptwriters tried to be too clever, and it is a gamble which does not pay off, and I am left feeling that I am watching something which does not feel real, believable or most importantly, enjoyable.

Connery is very watchable, and takes on the limited role to the best of his ability, and in all honestly stops the film becoming a complete write off. I am a big fan of Fishburne, but I have to wonder if he actually read the script before accepting the role, as his stupid one liners overshadow what is actually a compelling visual performance. Harris is over the top, which is unusual for him, as I normally find he plays his characters just to the right level. Underwood is, as I have said, totally out of his depth with this role, and it shows from the first scene.

Director Arne Glimcher takes on a pretty big job considering his previous offering was the very mediocre ‘Mambo Kings’, which I switched off less than halfway through. I was surprised to see him tackling such a different genre, but hoped that his debut was a blip. In a way, I was right, and he does a better job, but this time he just plays it too safe and does not push the action as much as he could have, and ends up with nothing more than a copycat film made up of some of his favourite films!

The characters were just too predictable to be enjoyable, and there were many times that I found myself shaking my head with frustration at some of their action. I felt like I had seen it all before, just done much better. The people behind the film have relied on the fact that the film is full of so many bankable names, that they took their eye off the ball, and failed to give them a film to match their talents.

Summary: