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From:Julia Roberts , Denzel Washington , Sam Shepard , John Heard , Tony Goldwyn , Warner Brothers , Alan J. Pakula , Warner Home Video ,
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#2205 |
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5 of 13 customers found the following review helpful:
 Anyone/anything would have been better, 2005-04-21
Ok- so I can see there are some die-hard Julia Roberts fans out there. Too bad. Just raving about her will never improve her acting skills (an oxymoron). Actually, the poor quality of this movie is astounding, considering its director, the cast (excepting our girl Julia) and the book upon which it was based. Though he's done some much better work, when Pakula threw this film together he was clearly thinking of only one thing: "Hmm, 'Presumed Innocent' was a winner. Let's follow that same formula and do another one. It'll sell." Unfortunately, by the time the story from the book by John Grisham got to the screen, it lacked any of its original punch. As for Denzel, he should be ashamed of himself. He's about as enthusiastic in this as a turtle heading for the beach. I guess he probably needed the cash for another house. Then again, he's opposite Julia. No further comment needed -other than, save your money.
5 of 6 customers found the following review helpful:
 VERY GOOD, 2005-04-02
I read the book and was pleased with the movie. Very pleased. It captured the essence of the book without being too glosy (like a Time to Kill) or straying too far from the source material (like The Firm).
Julia Roberts is terrific - so emotionally accessible and convincing as a brillant law student. Denzel Washington is solid - they have some nice chemistry. Also impressive is the supporting cast - I liked the score.
Why does it get 4 stars? This DVD is one where you must flip over the disc to watch the last 50 minutes. This is a joke. Not only did this movie make nearly $200 million worldwide, but it got favorable reviews.
Warner Bros. needs to re-release the picture just for the fact that I want to watch the movie without having to flip the disc over. It is the year 2005 afterall.
2 of 3 customers found the following review helpful:
ERIN BROCKOVICH MEETS JOHN Q, 2004-10-22
Without the star presenced of Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington, THE PELICAN BRIEF might not succeed. But these two megastars in their earlier days bring their own charisma to this Alan J. Pakula directed version of John Besteller Grisham's novel. A labyrinthine plot that sometimes seems convoluted and implausible takes the backseat to the reactions of its characters and the all too suspicious government.
Pakula, best known for ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN and KLUTE, sets up our heroes in a conspiracy involving the assassination of two elderly supreme court justices. Roberts is a brilliant law student who comes up with titular brief, and then has to turn to reporter Washington to help expose the high ranking parties responsible. It's all shameless manipulative plotting, but the leads do well and we find ourselves rooting for them. The supporting cast has its ups and downs--the ups: the ever dependable Tony Goldwyn (Joshua, Ghost) as the presidential press secretary; John Lithgow as Washington's irascible boss; Stanley Tucci as the chameleonic assassin; and John Heard as a friend of Washington's who gets snuffed. The downs: Robert Culp as a mentally challenged president, and William Atherton in a wasted role as an FBI agent.
I haven't read the book, but the movie succeeds as a paen to the talents of its leads.
8 of 10 customers found the following review helpful:
A good one, and well-acted, 2003-12-21
Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts are the leads in this dark suspenseful thriller. It's about a law student (Roberts) who discovers a conspiracy behind the murder of a couple of Supreme Court justices. Then, not surprisingly, when the bad guys realize what she knows, her own life is endangered. She turns to an investigative reporter for help, and together they go on the lam as fugitives. It's not great, great, great, but the chemistry between Washington and Roberts, the fear factor of being in hiding, and a great supporting cast will keep you too involved to risk leaving to go nuke another bag of popcorn without pushing the pause button.
7 of 17 customers found the following review helpful:
Good book, bad movie, 2003-11-28
I was excited about seeing this movie because I had read the book, which was pretty decent. I always like to read the book first, and then see the movie. This movie, however, does not do justice to the book.
First, the acting was very bad. Actually, it wasn't very bad, it was awful. I can't believe these other reviews that talk about how awesome the acting was from Roberts and Washington. Personally, I think Denzel Washington's acting is over-rated in every film he's ever made. The characters were just not believable. Secondly, there are several good parts from the book that are left out of the movie, or are not explained. For example, Victor Matiesse is not even seen in the movie. There is a very good scene in the book that adds a lot to the story about an agent visiting Matieese, and one of his goons stealthily kills the fibbie. That would have been great if it were included in the movie. The movie explains the killing of the justices in much more detail, and explains that they did not want the FBI protection; the movie portrays the FBI as a bunch of little schoolgirls. There are so many plot holes in the movie, that I can't see how anyone who hasn't read the book would understand what's going on. I really like Julia Roberts, but this is not one of her better films.
John Grisham has written a good novel, don't use this movie to base your opinion of his work. He writes very well though-out novels and develops the characters well, he also does a good job of explaining what is going on. This is just a very bad adapatation. I should have saved myself 2 and a half hours and picked up another Grisham novel.
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