Intelligent debate film but has a clumsy conclusion

bob the moo

Judge Hardin has a problem.  He is beginning to be disillusioned by the legal system he represents and is repeatedly forced to release people who are clearly guilty due to legal technicalities set-up to protect the innocent.  When the torture and murder of children comes before his court he is forced to release the suspects leading him to join a select court of Judges who are self appointed to a shadowy group that pass judgment behind closed doors before employing a hitman to carry out the sentence.  However it doesn't take long before developments show Hardin the limitations of this alternative version of justice.

The story here is in two parts.  First we have the investigation side where Detective Lowes and others try to catch the child killers, but we also have the side with Hardin and the other Judges.  The latter allows the film to debate the issues of justice and the legal system using the former as the catalyst for the debate.  Both strands are fascinating when separate however when the two come together for the conclusion it doesn't quite work.  The film is then forced to pick a side and manages to fudge it a bit and lose it's way.  Up until then it's a great piece of work that makes intelligent argument both in attack and defence of the legal system.  The film is still relevant today - in the UK we recently saw the alleged Lawrence killers walk free despite overwhelming evidence due to technicalities - in fact it is probably more relevant than it was then.

The cast are roundly good - Douglas is good despite his slight scout style character.  Holbrook does one of the best performances I've seen him give and Kotto adds some real class.  It also gives small roles to Gless and David Proval (Ritchie in The Sopranos).  The only weak link are the bug-eyed performances of suspected murders Monk and Cooms who are almost like cartoon characters at times.

Overall an intelligent film that manages to hold a clever debate before blowing it with a ham-fisted conclusion.

score /10

bob the moo 11 January 2002

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0205527/