Juror #2 – the latest and perhaps last film from director Clint Eastwood – is a stirring morality play that places high stakes drama at the forefront of a crime procedural that will inspire much debate regarding natural law and the justice system.
The films of Clint Eastwood often feature characters walking that moral tight rope between what is right and wrong, with his protagonists facing high pressure situations that force them to act in accordance with who they are at their core. Sometimes the results are ethically queasy (Million Dollar Bay, Mystic River); other times they feature stunning depictions of bravery (Sully, Grant Torino.)
Juror #2 presents a doozy of a situation that leaves that final act of moral decision making to us, the viewer. It’s a story about Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) a writer and recovering alcoholic who is summoned to jury duty for a case involving the murder of a young woman (Francessca Eastwood) allegedly at the hand of her former-criminal boyfriend (Gabriel Basso).
Unbeknownst to everyone is that Justin is the guilty culprit; the result of an accidental hit-and-run on a dark and rainy night. With a heavily pregnant wife (Zooey Deutch) at home and his fellow jurors swaying towards a guilty verdict, Justin must choose whether to confess or let “justice” take its course.
With a fantastic screenplay by Jonathan A. Abrams, Juror #2 features 98-year-old Eastwood in prime-form, especially in his ability to capture great performances from his cast. The prolific Nicholas Hoult delivers a fantastic turn (perhaps a career best) as a morally conflicted man caught in an ethical minefield, as his attempt to walk a perilous moral line leaves him an anxious and soul-wrenched mess of a man.
A surprising yet stunningly good conclusion to Juror #2 places the responsibility of judge, juror, and final-act executioner in our hands. It’s a ballsy movie; most mainstream films do not ask its audience to step outside their comfort zone and ask whether we are driven merely by our own personal goals and biases; or if we should hold ourselves accountable for the greater good or our community?
Eastwood asks these questions in Juror #2 without sacrificing entertaining, engrossing storytelling, proving that while the Oscar-winning filmmaker is indeed near the end of his carer the work is as strong as ever.
