While viewing Clint Eastwood’s (Sully, American Sniper) thrilling court drama Juror #2, my mind kept wandering back to an unnerving thought. There was a good chance that many would go without ever knowing about this film, let alone watching it. Juror #2 had a minimal theatrical run before going straight to streaming. The reason for having a theatrical run at all was so that it could be eligible for any end-of-year awards. Eastwood is one of the greatest directors of all time. There is something about a critically and audience-acclaimed film such an esteemed director not receiving a wide release that doesn’t sit right.

I believe that Eastwood is the best actor/director ever. By this, I mean there isn’t a better actor who has excelled in front of and behind the camera as well as he has. While Eastwood made a name for himself as an actor first, it is 40+ directing credits that wow me the most. With two Best Director Oscar wins (Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby) and two additional nominations (Letters from Iwo Jima, Mystic River), he’s cemented his legacy in a craft he didn’t even attempt until fifteen years into his acting career. Eastwood is far ahead of Ben Affleck, who is his nearest competitor. While this recognition isn’t determined solely by numbers, Affleck, assuming he lives to his mid-90s, would need to direct a movie every year for the rest of his life to match Eastwood.

Many thought Eastwood’s previous film, 2021’s Cry Macho, the quiet, delicate neo-Western about a widowed old rodeo star with nothing to live for and the rooster who leads him to find a new purpose, would be his farewell to Hollywood. Cry Macho underwhelmed, earning just $10 million at the box office while earning positive marks from just 58% of critics and 64% of the audience. At 94 years of age at the time of the release of Juror #2, it’s not unreasonable to think that this could be his final film. If that’s the case, this is a film he can proudly hang his hat on.

For those who do not know anything about this movie, I would encourage you to stop reading this review before you watch it and go blind. I rated this movie a high B and was tempted to give it a B+, but the implausibility aspect caused me to pause. The rest of this review is not a spoiler, as it’s the film’s premise and not something hidden in the brief description of sites like Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB, Letterboxd, etc. But again, please be aware before you continue your reading.

Set in Savannah, Georgia, the film revolves around the court case of James Sythe (Gabriel Basso – Hillbilly Elegy, Super 8), an abusive man charged with the murder of his girlfriend Kendall Carter. In flashbacks and through witness testimony, we learn that James was seen drunk and disorderly with Kendall and a local bar before following her car out. That’s the last we see of each character before learning that Kendall has been killed, her body lying in a ditch off a nearby road, her injuries consistent with blunt forced battery.

One of those at the bar on that fateful evening was Justin (Nicholas Hoult – The Menu, The Favourite), a recovering alcoholic with a history of DUIs, sitting with a beer he ordered in front of him but yet to touch. Justin and his wife, Allison (Zoey Deutch – The Disaster Artist, The Outfit), are expecting a baby soon. Still, each is skeptical after the previous pregnancy resulted in a miscarriage. In the flashback, we learn Justin is at the bar alone, having just learned of the loss of the miscarriage. On his drive home, Justin hits something on the road that causes a heavy dent in his car. He assumes he has hit a deer, consistent with the deer crossing warning sign we see on the road.

Prosecutor Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette – Nightmare Alley, Hereditary), who is running for the prestigious district attorney position, is assigned the case. Everything suggests that this high-profile case, with little work, will result in a quick conviction, elevating her as the front-runner for the position she seeks. The defense attorney is Eric Resnik (Chris Messina – Air, Live by Night). His odds seem bleak, but James is hellbent on neither accepting a plea deal nor pleading the fifth. James is adamant he didn’t commit the murder. While there is a clear motive that suggests he killed Kendall, there is no eye-witness of what happened after he followed her out of the bar, nor was a murder weapon found.

Justin is summoned for jury duty and selected as juror #2 for the case. For the previous year, he was convinced that he had hit a deer on the night of Kendall’s death. He had told his wife after the event happened that it was not even on the same road as the discovery of Kendall’s body. However, as the case begins to unfold, he starts to think that, rather than striking a deer, he struck Kendall and is responsible for her death. As he is a recovering alcoholic who ordered a beer on his credit card, no one would believe that he did not drink that night. With this new knowledge, he knows he cannot turn himself in. It will result in a manslaughter conviction. Instead of owning up to the crime, he does what he thinks is the next best thing. He tries to turn the jury to vote not guilty for a case that most consider a slamdunk conviction.

Hoult plays Justin in a way that shows he is disturbed and scared but still within his control. He has no emotional outbursts or facial expressions that suggest anything unusual. However, some of his behaviors strike some of the other jurors as odd, particularly Marcus (Cedric Yarbrough – Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain, Black Dynamite), who believes he is hiding something from the jury, and Harold (J.K. Simmons – Whiplash, Palm Springs), a former homicide detective who is the only member of the jury, other than Justin, whose initial vote does not find James guilty. Justin plays it off like everything is calm and under control while he battles inner turmoil, attempting to find a way that this entire case can remain unsolved.

Eastwood delivers a masterclass on the conflicting moral dilemmas we all face when the truthful choice isn’t necessarily the best. Adding layers to the contradiction is when we steer the truth and justify a decision as better for the greater good. While we certainly have that with Justin, we have that with at least two other prominent characters. We spend most of the movie with Justin, watching him process the information, trying to persuade his fellow jurors, and finding an acquittal path for James. As his walls slowly cave in, does Justin’s decision become more complicated, or as the options narrow, does it become easier?

The final ten minutes of Juror #2 feature a pair of scenes between two of our lead characters, with one presenting their take on right versus wrong and, in turn, causing the character this character is talking with to examine theirs. What are we willing to do for the truth? What are we willing to sacrifice? For most of us, this is within some grey area. It’s something we all know. It’s something Eastwood expertly allows us to witness.

Plot 8.5/10
Character Development 8/10
Character Chemistry 7/10
Acting 7.5/10
Screenplay 8.25/10
Directing 9/10
Cinematography 8/10
Sound 8.5/10
Hook and Reel 10/10
Universal Relevance 10/10
84.75%

B

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