Juror #2 may not be the highlight from Clint Eastwood as a directory, however it is a perfectly watchable legal drama with decent enough performances.
Juror #2
(2025)
Genre(s): Drama
Warner Bros.| PG13 – 114 min. – $34.95 | February 3, 2025
Date Published: 03/19/2025 | Author: The Movieman
|
|
|||||||||||
Warner Bros. Studios Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 3/5 |
|
Plot Synopsis: A juror (NICHOLAS HOULT) for a high-profile murder trial finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma that could influence the verdict and potentially convict, or free, the accused killer. Quick Hit Review: Clint Eastwood is a bit of a rare breed in Hollywood as he’s pretty consistently worked both in front of and behind the camera, and the latter is just as impressive as his career as an actor. While he hasn’t always hit a homerun nor really come close to greats like Unforgiven, the bulk of his films have been highly entertaining (Absolute Power is one I re-watch every couple of years). Meanwhile, Juror #2 lies with his mediocre outings alongside J. Edgar, The Mule and Cry Macho among his more recent films. Considering Eastwood is now in his mid-90s, it is impressive where he could easily have retired years ago so clearly he enjoys what he does. The movie itself is at the very least watchable but nothing I found particularly engaging though it does delve a bit into the jury system, such as the jurors quick judgment after the trial so they can go home. That said, there is a convoluted nature that one member of the jury, the titular juror #2 played by Nicholas Hoult, so happens to be perhaps the real culprit behind the death of a young woman (played here by Eastwood’s daughter, Francesca). The film follows his attempts to at first sway the jury. Hoult for his part I felt wasn’t all that impressive and maybe that’s because the character wasn’t well written, from a script by Jonathan Abrams (making his feature debut), but I didn’t feel his performance was especially effective. The supporting cast was fine but no standouts: Toni Collette was fine as the persecutor with a moral compass; J.K. Simmons had a couple nice lines as a fellow juror before exiting a little over halfway through; Kiefer Sutherland was in it for maybe 5-minutes with all scenes likely shot in a day; and Zoey Deutch was lovely as Hoult’s wife. There’s not much to say about Juror #2. It’s a watchable enough legal drama but nothing about it stands out, even Eastwood’ direction was pedestrian, straight-forward however no neat little camera angles/tricks. This feels like a made-for-TV movie from the 90s and part of me can appreciate that it is simple with no agenda or shoe-horned messaging, but at the same time I don’t have any desire to revisit this one. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0/5 |
|
No features were included but there is a digital copy code. No slip cover either. |
VIDEO – 4/5 |
| Juror #2 comes to Blu-ray through Warner Bros. and is presented in its original 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 1080p high-definition transfer. The picture here was sharp and well defined while colors are often bright during the daytime scenes though a fair portion either takes place inside the courtroom or at night. |
AUDIO – 4¼/5 |
| The move comes with an unnecessarily strong Dolby Atmos track considering 99.5% of the film is strictly dialogue driven with the remainder scenes being flashbacks to the dark and rainy night. Still, dialogue is strong throughout and the music, as low-key as it is, makes usage of the front speakers along with ambient noises making up the rear channels as well. |
OVERALL – 2½/5 |
|
Overall, Juror #2 may not be the highlight from Clint Eastwood as a directory, however it is a perfectly watchable legal drama with decent enough performances. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.