fulci420’s review published on Letterboxd:
Eastwood decided to make another thriller based on a novel following Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, this time it would be among his bigger commercial failures. In the grand scheme of Eastwood's career it is obscure for a reason, showing his vanity by playing a role that he is at least 20 years too old for (hotshot womanizing reporter) and even throwing in a kissing scene with a character we are told is 23! I' d put this in the same category as Blood Work another clunky thriller in which Clint for some reason takes his shirt off and unleashes his inner Romeo despite being well past retirement age.
The plot is really not that great, feeling very much like a rip off of a John Grisham novel with our hero finding out a black man on death row is innocent mere hours before the execution. There's some potentially interesting political ramifications of why this guy was persecuted despite less than foolproof evidence, but this movie doesn't seem very interested in that factor. All of the drama of this case is also constantly undermined by the fact that Clint's womanizing is given just as heavy an emphasis as the execution itself.
Its not all bad and I don't think Eastwood has ever directed a movie that was less than watchable. James Woods gets a showcase performance, and the cinematography is brighter and more interesting than the typical Clint effort. The real thing we need to talk about is the speed zoo. At one point early on Clint needs to rush through a trip to the zoo with his real life daughter (who is ultra annoying) in order to do something important. His ingenious solution, run the stroller as fast as he can through the damn thing, the results well take a look for yourself.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrDlnWRPy_c
This is the 2nd entry in my Clint Eastwood marathon:
letterboxd.com/fulci420/list/clint-eastwood-marathon/