(Review originally written at 5 April 2006)
This is a well made, made for TV movie. Nothing too impressive but certainly good enough and enjoyable to kill some time with.
The story is nothing special, although the concept, of the father of a murder suspect taking the entire jury of the trail hostage, itself is pretty good and interesting. The movies does have its moments but it has lots of missed opportunities as well. Such as the fact that the husband of the murdered wife is also among the hostages, is an highly underused story element. They could have made more out of this, such as some interesting and heated confrontations between the suspect and the husband but nothing ever happens with the husband at all. Really a missed opportunity there.
But sure, the movie also has its expected flaws and it lacks in credibility at times. Still the movie and its story work effective enough to keep you watching till the end. It isn't terribly exciting and to be honest it also was quite predictable but the way the movie is constructed and the way the story is told, provides the movie with some good sequences and moments.
Also the two main leads are a reason why the movie works effective enough and serves its purpose. David Caruso is a convincing leading man and Charles S. Dutton is good as the hostage taker. He portrays his character very humane and understandable. Most of the other characters aren't really interesting enough, mainly because they don't play a prominent enough role in the movie.
It all in all was a better than expected, made for TV thriller with some good moments that mainly works because of the two main actors of the movie. It's a movie well worth watching if the opportunity is there but obviously by no means a must-see.
6/10
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