“You never know what a dozen strangers will do. That’s the reality of the American justice system.” The Seventh Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects the right to a trial by jury. Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2 2024 brings the audience into the courtroom to take the place of the jury. While most of us have probably been called to serve on a jury at some point, it is rare to actually be selected for a jury. Even rarer is the chance of being selected for a crime involving local or national conspiracy. A tonally uneven but stirring morality play, Juror #2 harkens back to the days of the mid-budget movies audiences have long craved. Stream this film on Flixtor full Movie.
By all appearances, Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) is a family man. He is married to Allie (Zoey Deutch), with whom he has just had a baby girl. The couple are still reeling from the shock of losing twins last year. While the couple is excited about the birth of their daughter, they are also nervous about the possibility of another miscarriage. To make their lives even more stressful, Justin is called in as a juror. He is selected to serve on a high-profile case involving a man (Gabriel Basso) accused of brutally murdering his girlfriend (Francesca Eastwood). As the facts of the case unfold, Justin realizes that he may have first-hand knowledge that could affect the outcome of the case.
The 80s and 90s were the golden age of mid-priced political and legal thrillers. Films like The File, No Way Out, and Air Force One formed a genre that doesn’t really exist today. Juror #2 is a return to a format that director Eastwood knows well. The look is much glossier than his 80s and 90s counterparts, but with film grain on top, Juror #2 would fit right in with its era. It’s a fairly small-scale type of movie, but the human-focused moral drama effortlessly draws audiences in. Never mind that the script’s husband-wife dialogue is stilted and the jurors seem like people painted in broad strokes rather than showing actual personal details. Juror #2 has been well-received precisely because the story isn’t too far-fetched and it forces the viewer to consider what they would do if they were in Justin’s shoes.
From a technical standpoint, Juror #2 leaves a lot to be desired. The editing at the beginning of the film awkwardly walks the audience through the character introductions. The audience doesn’t need to see the conveniently placed jury summons to understand the conversation between Justin and Ally early in the film. These puzzle pieces can be put together from the title alone.