Primal Fear

Martin Vail—a former prosecutor-turned-cocky, big shot Chicago defense attorney—takes a seemingly dead-end case to defend Aaron Stampler, a young altar boy accused of brutally murdering an eminent archbishop. Not only does all the evidence seem to point to Aaron's guilt, but the case is further complicated when Vail's adversary turns out to be old flame and former protégé Janet Venable (Linney), who still happens to work for Vail's unscrupulous former employers. Gere is perfect as the self-important lawyer, Norton (in his screen debut) riveting as his client, and Linney gives an effectively understated performance as a prosecutor who can hold her own. An absorbing, well-acted, and believable courtroom thriller with just enough twists and turns to keep things interesting throughout. ***

I just LOVE this movie! I watch it whenever it happens to be showing. I think all of the cast give excellent performances. Richard Gere, Laura Linney, and Edward Norton Jr. are all at their best. And the plot is one of the best courtroom dramas I've ever seen and I've seen a lot of them!

A big-time attorney defends a choir boy who has been accused of murdering a priest. Playing the attention-seeking and arrogant yet sincere lawyer, Gere gives arguably the best performance of his career, making his character slimy yet likable. Linney is terrific as the DA prosecuting the case. In an audacious film debut, Norton is fabulous playing the accused murderer. Although the script may prove to be flawed under close scrutiny, this is a clever and absorbing courtroom drama. It does go on a bit too long; the secondary plot thread concerning Bauer detracts from the main story and could easily have been trimmed.

This film is based on the judgment of an altar boy accused of the death of a Catholic bishop, so it's like dozens of other "court movies", where all revolves around a case, and lawyer-client relationships. What is different here? The case involves the Catholic Church (and that always attracts the audiences), the altar boy seems unable to hurt a fly and the lawyer seems pretty obnoxious most of the time. Richard Gere has played a good role in this film, one of the few decent roles in this actor's career to date, and has shown that he is a good, talented actor, who deserves better characters in the future. Perhaps even better was the performance of Edward Norton, in the role of the altar boy Aaron. He becomes so credible and sincere that we believe him to the end, and this only serves to make the end a twist even more amazing than it would be otherwise. That's enough for the movie to deserve a chance from the public.

I thought that this was a VERY GOOD movie...not a GREAT movie. The use of the F*** word (and all of it's various forms)was way over the top for me!That did seem to be indicative of many films from this time frame,1995-1999. But once you got pass that the plot kept moving along very well for a court room drama movie. Edward Norton was Excellent in his role! I would have liked to seen more of Andre Braugher's character and how his behind the court room scene work helped Richard Gere prepare his case. The ramifications of the underlying story between John Mahony and Steven Bauer would have been an added benefit to viewer. An answer to the question: Did he get away with it? Great movie for those that love to try and figure out the ending before the movie actually ends!