Just Cause

The film is mediocre, but seeing Ed Harris' performance as a manipulative serial killer (I'm not giving anything away by telling you this) is worth the entire movie. Too often serial killers are played as geniuses--Jack in "The Profiler" or Kevin Spacey's character in "Seven"; Harris creates a malignant redneck monster that really will startle and chill you. No one goes from zero to sixty like Harris since George C. Scott left us; in this film he modulates his voice amazingly, sounding quietly venomous one moment and then thundering like a fire and brimstone Southern minister. In Connery's case, it's just bad casting: he plays an academic consulting lawyer (a la Dershowitz {sp?}) who combats Fishburne's menacing but canny Southern cop. Connery's other roles and the notion of him they have created in us make it impossible for him to play the effete lawyer that the script seems to call for.

In rural Florida 1986, Bobby Earl (Blair Underwood) is arrested for the murder of a young white girl. Sheriff Tanny Brown (Laurence Fishburne) leads a group of brutal cops. Eight years later, Bobby is facing the electric chair. His mother pleads with law professor and anti-death penalty advocate Paul Armstrong (Sean Connery) to help. His wife (Kate Capshaw) pushes him to take on the case. Imprisoned serial killer Blair Sullivan (Ed Harris) claims to have committed the crime. The acting is way too broad especially Fishburne. Sean Connery is possibly the most subtle of the lot which says everything. The movie is so heavy-handed. It pushes so hard that it's obvious something is wrong with the narrative. The twists are not obvious but expected. The movie moves too slowly wading through the case like a swamp. I don't know why the cops tell Armstrong so many incriminating statements. The Sullivan confession has an explanation which makes a new trial unlikely. The movie just doesn't have any tension with so much overacting. This is also notable that a young Scarlett Johansson has a minor role.

Exactly what is supposed to be our take away from this film? Ten minutes in we are privy to two police officers beating and torturing a prisoner in order to coerce a confession. The man is sentenced to death after a joke of a trial with little to no evidence. A Harvard professor is begged by the prisoner's desperate grandmother to appeal the case. The professor takes it on, gets the man freed ... only for him to turn out to be a psychopath and a murderer because he was castrated while imprisoned overnight for another crime he didn't commit. So the guy ends up being guilty ... so it was supposed to be OK that the police beat a confession out of him? Or that he wound up on death row with little to no evidence to put him there? We're supposed to side with the cops who beat the guy up? Or the system that caused him to be castrated and become a psychopath in the first place? I mean seriously what are we supposed to gather from this film? Whose side are we supposed to be on? Is this film supposed to be anti-death-penalty or for it because it can't seem to make up its mind. And to all the people reading this review and saying "it's just a movie, you're taking it too seriously" I'm sorry but there are thousands of railroaded people in prison right now, likely several innocent people currently on death row. It seems to me a movie like this only muddies the issue or tries to make light of a serious problem within our justice system. In either case I find it profoundly disturbing.

Just Cause is unapologetically conventional, especially since it produces a "factory-produced" script. But that being said, I actually sort of enjoyed the movie. When you pour a cup of Silence with the Lambs into a batter of Se7en, Just Cause is the outcome. The film is moody and tense and there is more action than I thought there would be. The film has some good lines, mainly by the great Sean Connery, who is a hallowed presence in the movie. Arne Glimcher's film is about a Harvard law professor who decides to reopen a murder case, eight years after the case closed due to a plea of innocence. The victim, in these circumstances, is a man named Bobby Earl who was found guilty of murdering an eleven-year-old girl. Earl pleads his innocence saying that he was coerced by the local police in admitting his guilt. Now the lawyer, Paul Armstrong must get to the bottom on what actually occurred. The film has a stacked cast and they each play to their strengths. Sean Connery is excellent and he makes any film watchable. Laurence Fishburne brings a formidable and rather eerie presence. Ed Harris is fantastic in his small role as a serial killer locked in prison. This film is also one of the early roles for the talented Scarlett Johannson. Overall, Just Cause is about as ordinary a thriller you can find. But I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It provides enough thrills for my liking, and there was even an unexpected twist towards the end. I also loved the location of the film, namely the Everglades. It gives the film a more creepy vibe, as we get to keep one eye towards the alligators. The script is nothing new, but I enjoyed the film nonetheless. Most likely because of the very talented cast. I rate this film 8/10.

The movie was a suspenseful, and somewhat dark, look at the severe results of a genuinely human mistake. Connery and Fishburne work very well together in this thriller about murder and redemption. Keep your boots on for the strange turnaround at the end of the movie...you'd never expect it!

hi.. I consider Just Cause one of my favorite Sean Connery's movies, it is a tense psychological thriller with excellent performances from the Cast, especially Connery..it also has one of the best lines i have seen in movies, so the dialog is pretty good in this one.. It also has one of the best scenes in movies ever, when Sean interviews Ed Harris's character in prison is just fantastic..i enjoyed this one a lot and i can not recommend this enough, really do not miss this one ! Do not pay attention to the negative reviews stating that the last 30 minutes suck, it was as intense as the rest of the movie, i really find Just Cause a very entertaining movie..

This is a very dramatic and suspenseful movie. There are many plots and turns. The story or the director opens question marks on the death row or presumed crimes committed by black people. This film is very well directed by Arne Glimcher and the fine sound of James Newton Howard is excellent. Strong performance of Sean Connery and Ed Harris. If you liked this one don´t miss "TRUE CRIMES" or "THE HURRICANE". My wife and me gave 8/10.

A Compelling Thriller!!, 10 December 2005 Author:littlehammer16787 from United States Just Cause Starring:Sean Connery,Laurence Fishburne, and Blair Underwood. A liberal,though good-hearted Harvard law professor Paul Armstrong is convoked to the Flordia Everglades by unjustly convicted black guy Bobby Earl.Confessing that sadistic,cold-hearted cops vilifyied and beat him to a pulp to get the confession of a gruesome murder of an eleven year old girl. As he digs further and further into the mysterious case he realizes that Bobby Earl is a victim of discrimination.That the black police detective Lt.Tanny Brown of the small community is corrupt and villainously mean. When the infamous,psychotic serial killer Blair Sullivan is introduced.He discovers that he knows the location of the murder weapon that butchered the little girl.When Armstrong finds that there are lucid coincidences of Sullivan's road trip through the small town and the letter he personally wrote. Bobby Earl gets a re-trial.Is unfettered from prison and eludes his horrific punishment. All seems swimmingly well until an unexpected phone call from serial killer Sullivan comes into focus.Armstrong discovers a lurid double killing which happens to be Sullivan's parents.Whom he immensely detests.Sullivan divulges to Armstrong the truth of Joanie Shriver's heinous murder and why he was brought here.It turns out that Bobby Earl is a psychopathic murderer and he really did rape and kill Joanie Shriver.He just merely struck a bargain with fiendish psycho Sullivan. To get loose so he could kill again for revenge.Upon Armstrong's beautiful wife and daughter.Now Sullivan is executed to his death. Armstrong and tough good guy Brown chase the malevolent villain to the Everglades in order to thwart him.When they arrive Armstrong learns that the psychotic sicko Bobby Earl plans to kill his wife and daughter for a former rape trial that inevitably made him endure agonizing pain and castration.But good,virtuous cop Brown emerges and thwarts the brutal baddie.Is stabbed and eaten by ruthless,man-eating alligators.Paul Armstrong,Tanny Brown,his wife,and daughter survive and live happily ever after. A good thriller that works.Delivers both mystery and subterfuge.How reluctant blacks are hazed by racist lawmen.Sentenced to unfair penalties.Even though sometimes the wrongfully convicted innocent, friendly black man may in truth be the vicious baddie. Sean Connery is great as the oblivious,holier than thou hero.Laurence Fishburne is watchably amazing as the mean,arrogant,but good guy cop. Underwood and Harris are over the top and invigorating as the malevolent psychos.Capeshaw is okay.Ruby Dee is great as the tenacious grandmother.The rest of the cast is wonderful as well.

Always enjoy the great acting of Laurence Fishburne,(Sheriff Tanny Brown) who becomes very upset when a professor visits his town to investigate a sort of Cold Case. This professor is a retired lawyer named Paul Armstrong, (Sean Connery) who has reason to believe that a man on death row is innocent of rape and murder of a very pretty little white girl. Sheriff Tanny does not appreciate Paul Armstrong coming to his town in Florida and starting to open up a can of worms as Tanny is very certain he has arrested the correct man and even has a confession to prove he did this evil deed. The guilt person is Blair Underwood,(Bobby Earl) who is very happy to see Paul Armstrong come to his defense and possibly clear his name and secure his freedom. There are many twists and turns to this story and plenty of action and very creepy areas in the swamps of Florida. This film will keep you glued to your screens if you have not seen this film before. Enjoy

Floridians have not acted in the way this movie depicts us for more than 150 years in most areas and for at least 100 years in all other areas! As a matter of fact there are so few TRUE FLORIDIANS in Florida that most people who live in Florida have NEVER MET A FLORIDIAN !!! I'd say 90% of the people in Florida come from other states: OHIO, WISCONSIN, NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, ILLINOIS, IOWA, INDIANA, NEW JERSEY, & a few other states -- but those are our biggest population groups. Ochopee is a tiny little bump in the road in southern Collier County (the movie states it's in EVERGLADES COUNTY -- there is NO SUCH COUNTY in Florida: there is a GLADES COUNTY, but it is a long way from Ochopee, but OCHOPEE is in COLLIER). The majority of the people who live in Ochopee are Black -- that is correct: about the only correct thing. Another thing, the COLLIER COUNTY DEPUTIES would never treat anyone the way the characters in this movie treated the "rapist" in this movie. Collier Deputies are highly trained and as far as I've ever seen in any of the 54 years of my life in Collier, I've never seen anyone railroaded or mistreated! I'm sure Collier has a few "bad" cops, just as anywhere, but 99% of the deputies uphold the law and peoples' rights -- ALL PEOPLES' RIGHTS! Collier County is not A Backwater or Hick-Town By Any STRETCH of the IMAGINATIO !!!!!!! As a matter of FACT, COLLIER COUNTY, is one of the MOST SOPHISTICATED AREAS in the USA (think: PALM BEACH !!!!! As a matter of fact, PALM BEACH is JEALOUS of Collier county & it's seat, the City of Naples!!!!!!) The median home price is OVER $500,000.00 -- I saw a "shack" the other day priced at $279,000.00 !!! It was a dump, but it was only 2 miles from the beach!!! People who act the way people in this movie act might live in the backwaters of some states, but not Florida, not in the last 50 to 100 yrs or so anyway!!! I've traveled most of Florida in my life and I've only seen 1 or 2 backwaters where the people might act like those in this movie, but those places and the people in them are gone, or soon will be. It just disturbs me when people anywhere are misrepresented!!! This movie is a WORK OF FICTION. Enjoy, but with a grain of salt -- or the whole box of salt !!!