Review
Primal Fear
- Director
- Gregory Hoblit
- Year
- 1996
- Rating
- Reviewed by
- José Ruiloba a.k.a. Morris
- Review date
- Tuesday, April 30, 2002
Hotshot lawyer Martin Vail (Richard Gere) takes the apparently unwinnable case of an altar boy (Edward Norton) accused of murdering a prominent catholic priest when he’s captured running away from the murder scene. The case gets more and more complicated by the minute...
It was 1996 when Primal Fear was released. It was a time when serious adult thrillers were scarce and when Richard Gere was not in the high point of his career. This movie came to prove that there was still life in the genre and that Gere still had it. He simply delivers here one of the most important performances of his life.
The interaction between Gere, Linney and Norton works so well that the movie grows because of this. It certainly is compelling and entertaining, but add to that the word intelligent. It deserves it.
There’s also the great fact that the movie is not as much about what happens in a courtroom as it is about what goes on behind it. There’s a lot to find out in this mystery that will keep surprising you until the end.
And that’s where the main and strongest asset of the movie comes. It has a killer twist ending that became, and still is, extremely popular among general masses. It could even be considered a classic in it’s very own way.
Anyway, I’ve already mentioned everyone’s strong acting here, but I’d like to single out Norton once again for providing a performance worthy of recognition in every sense of the word. He’s brilliant here. Simply outstanding!
“If your mother says she loves you, get a second opinion.”
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