Juror #2 Review: 2024's Most Intense Courtroom Drama Is Vintage Clint Eastwood

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Remember the days when anyone could simply head on over to their local theater on a whim, check the marquee for whichever movies happened to be playing next, and treat themselves to any number of solid, efficiently-made pictures made specifically for adults? That nostalgic scenario might as well feel as extinct as the dinosaurs in the year of our Lord 2024, but don't you dare tell that to Clint Eastwood. It goes without saying that at 94 years old, the nonagenarian (yes, I had to look that up) is much closer to the twilight of his prolific career than its dawn, but the inevitable passing of time hasn't slowed him down one bit. If anything, he continues to prove that time has only forged a filmmaker as scrupulous, focused, and impassioned as ever.

Granted, the release of his latest sees Eastwood navigating a much different studio system than the one which first ushered him into the spotlight as one of our greatest American storytellers. Shamefully, Warner Bros. is only giving "Juror #2" a token theatrical release in a handful of locations nationwide with no plans to open it in wide release, seemingly cutting their losses before even giving it its day in the court of public opinion. But in a quirk of timing and material that could only be chalked up to the film gods and their cosmic sense of irony, the failure of our most storied institutions — and those tasked with upholding them — turns out to be precisely what this narrative is all about.

Part courtroom drama, part morality play, and wholesale treatise on whether people are capable of change or not, Eastwood's tense and scalpel-sharp condemnation of the systems we take for granted is one of the best and most invigorating theatrical experiences of the year. "Juror #2" is nothing short of vintage Clint Eastwood.

A contrived premise turned into a tense moral dilemma

It's shockingly easy to imagine the hackier version of "Juror #2" that we would've received in the hands of anyone else other than a living legend. The premise itself already feels ripe for disaster, in which Nicholas Hoult's family man, Justin Kemp, ends up called in for jury duty and slowly realizes that he might actually be the perpetrator of the homicide that he must help deliver a verdict on. It wouldn't feel entirely out of bounds to dismiss the moral dilemma at the heart of this film as "contrived," but that would imply a situation where the tail wags the dog and everything works backward to justify stretching our suspension of disbelief. As tempting as that may be to believe, leave all skepticism at the door, folks. Only a true master of the craft could take this admittedly tortured setup and deliver as urgent and vital a film we've seen since "Killers of the Flower Moon," "Oppenheimer," and "The Zone of Interest."

Rather than taking the soap opera route, "Juror #2" avoids any whiff of melodrama and instead trusts its audience enough to appreciate the dramatic irony that (hopefully) convinced them to buy their ticket in the first place. Hoult plays chief protagonist Justin like a man haunted by his past, which we soon learn is far more complicated than we'd think. Initial appearances hint at nothing more than a doting husband and very pregnant wife Allison (a quietly compelling Zoey Deutch) expecting their first child together. But if ever there were someone who could understand the nature of second chances, it'd be this recovering alcoholic who ended up marrying the one person who had faith he could turn his life around. So of course he'd end up the secretly guilty party in a trial where all the evidence points towards a lowlife boyfriend (Gabriel Basso) with a checkered history — a prime suspect who could (and, to some, arguably should) take the fall instead.

While some might roll their eyes at such an absurd coincidence, Eastwood's confident direction and writer Jonathan Abrams's tense, watertight screenplay makes this feel like a preordained moral dilemma that simply couldn't have unfolded any other way.

Nicholas Hoult is a perfectly-cast cipher in Juror #2

Appearances can be deceiving, an idea that "Juror #2" practically makes a meal out of every step of the way. The movie might not veer away from expectations of a late-stage Eastwood flick in recent years, featuring a heavy dosage of characters pontificating about the state of America and laying out the thematic subtext in dialogue with all the subtlety of a judge's gavel. Luckily, the courtroom setting turns out to be the perfect avenue for all the on-the-nose theatrics audiences could possibly hope for, from fiery speeches courtesy of the defense and prosecuting attorneys (Chris Messina and Toni Collette stand out in these respective roles, despite feeling somewhat pigeonholed) to the various deliberations among the jury members (highlighted by J.K. Simmons, Cedric Yarbrough, Drew Scheid, Adrienne C. Moore, and Leslie Bibb playing pitch-perfect archetypes of the kinds of people you always bump into on jury duty), all while the ever-conflicted Justin fights a one-man battle to refrain from leaping to easy conclusions and ease his own conscience.

That internal conflict turns out to be the engine causing the film to fire on all cylinders. Hoult's thoroughly compelling performance as our main cipher is the fuel, making full use of all the nervous energy at his disposal and inviting audiences to scrutinize his frequent changes of heart that often sway the entire panel of jurors. Director of photography Yves Bélanger takes every lesson laid down by past genre greats like "12 Angry Men" and "A Few Good Men," blocking and framing every shot with a clear sense of purpose and motivation despite the dearth of sets. Even composer Mark Mancina's melodic score is used judiciously, making the moments when it surges to the fore all the more effective. And while all of this might make it seem like Eastwood has crafted some stuffy, super-serious thriller, that wouldn't quite do justice to the pitch-black sense of humor he dishes out on several occasions — oftentimes with a sly wink and a nod.

As the film neatly transitions from a straightforward courtroom drama in its first two acts to something altogether more didactic in its final stretch, Eastwood never once loses sight of the big picture. Every courtroom testimony is an opportunity to explore the shifting nature of different perspectives and personal biases. Every secret serves as insights into how an otherwise "good" person can rationalize themselves out of every tight spot. Several times, characters note that our judicial system is flawed, but also our best hope for justice. With a breathtaking final shot, Eastwood offers one possible answer for what that actually looks like ... and it's enough to make one small trial seem like a battle for America's soul.

/Film Rating: 8 out of 10

"Juror #2" hits theaters in limited release on November 1, 2024.