Disorder in the court

by Juanita Banda and Tommie Espinosa

The only thing The Juror is guilty of is predictability, lack of suspense and no original story line. Although the acting is superb, the storyline suffers from blandness in the first degree.

In everyday life, a juror can vote guilty or innocent and get on with his or her life. But in The Juror, Annie Laird (Demi Moore) becomes involved in a life-threatening dilemma when she is chosen to serve on the jury in the trial of a figure-head mobster. The Juror also stars Alec Baldwin as The Teacher and is produced by Academy Award winner Irwin Winkler and Rob Cowan. It is directed by Brian Gibson. The film is set in modern-day Boston and reverts to Guatemala, Mexico.

As a single mother and an artist, Annie feels she needs to have a little excitement in her life. For this reason, she decides to serve her country as a juror. The Teacher is hired by the mob to help them by selecting someone in the jury and using that person to tamper with the verdict.

Annie is chosen by The Teacher because of her creative, artistic manner and passion. He wants her to use these unique qualities to inspire the rest of the jury to acquit Louie Boffano (Tony Lo Bianco), whom they already see as guilty. He derives great pleasure out of seeing Annie transform into the strong personality he knew existed within her all along. Through threats and deceit, The Teacher is able to control Annie's actions and play her like a puppet.

Moore portrays Annie as a woman who is frightened and avoids romantic relationships to concentrate on raising her son, Oliver (Joseph Gordon-Levitt). Annie and Oliver maintain a strong and trusting relationship which helps them get through the terrible ordeal. The Teacher takes advantage of Annie's vulnerability in the start of an evil game.

She becomes his primary student, his obsession, his love, and she is absolutely trapped. Moore's acting is authentic and original, which serves justice to Annie's character.

Baldwin portrays The Teacher similarly to his godlike role in Malice. He is a psychotic and manipulative scoundrel who plays mind games with Annie. Baldwin has an excellent ability to communicate the character's motives to the audience. He is seductive and truly in character when he plays The Teacher.

Unfortunately, the final outcome is a bit of a mistrial. A glaring backset to the film is its predictability. The story line is hardly original, following the plot of last year's B-movie flop, Trial by Jury, and to some extent The Firm, in which the victim takes control and wins. The audience is never in suspense as to what will happen next.

Director Gibson attempts to show the point of view of the jury, but fails to do so. The film shows only minimal court time and jury deliberation. With an original story line, Gibson may have been able to produce a suspenseful thriller, but alas, the whole project ends up a mistrial. If you like predicting a film's end from the very start, The Juror is a definite must-see. Otherwise, tune in to The People's Court for some real drama.