A Civil Action 4 Stars (Out of 4) Reviewed by Mac VerStandig Critic@Moviereviews.org Http://www.moviereviews.org
"I'm going to do something really outrageous. I am going to tell the truth." So proclaims John Travolta in his last film, Primary Colors. Kind of ironic that he went from that role, to playing a lawyer in his new film, A Civil Action, don't you think? Oh, but worry not Travolta fans because he gives what is his second Oscar caliber performance of the year in this remarkable film. And his acting, no matter how great, is little more than one of the many achievements in this exceptional film that is based on a true story.
Jan Schlichtmann (John Travolta) is the type of personal injury lawyer that makes you disgusted with the American legal system. He is as much an ambulance chaser as the next lawyer, and doesn't seem to have, well, morals. His theories are real simple: a dead child is worth very little, a dead woman or minority is worth very little, but a dead middle aged man is what he thrives off. And thrives he does, he wears a custom made suit, drives a Porsche, and seems to be at the peak of his legal career. And then he stumbles onto the lawsuit that could make him millions and earn him immortality. A company that makes billions of dollars every year, and seems to have all the money in the world, has been polluting the water supply in Woburn, Mass. This had lead to the pre-mature deaths of numerous children, and their families are looking for an apology.
To Schlichtmann an apology is a very simple thing: money. He sees a gold mine and seizes the opportunity, despite his long-standing belief that children don't equal money. Working with him in his firm are Kevin Conway (Tony Shalhoub) and James Gordon (William H. Macy). The opposition consists of 2 very different lawyers. On one side there is William Cheeseman (Bruce Norris) who seems to be the inexperienced, over excited, and incompetent one in the mix. Then there is the wise, educated, relaxed and overall brilliant Jerome Facher (Robert Duvall) who is as much a Red Sox fan as anyone else in Boston. It will be these 2 men vs. Schlichtmann and company in what will be the case of their careers.
The brilliance to this plot is that it is real. (WARNING: PLOT GIVEAWAY) And, as in real life, the story doesn't have a happy ending. It is a tragic courtroom film, which is something that is very rare for Hollywood. It is also one of the few courtroom films that does not involve a female love interest, another rarity. And, because of that, this movie really does shine.
The acting is nothing less than brilliant. John Travolta gives the second great performance of his career (Primary Colors, where he also had the task of portraying a real person) and has finally given reason for people to stop asking about his capability. And Robert Duvall gives what is just another spectacular job from an actor who is among the greatest. But the real treat is William H. Macy who seems to be giving role after role of great acting. He gives this movie a whole different angle through a unique blend of comedy and drama that only he is capable of. You will also find a very good job by John Lithgow as Judge Skinner, and a wonderfully charming cameo by Kathy Bates at the end of this 2 hour film.
When all is said and done, you walk out of a spectacular film that stuns you as much as it entertains. Through great acting, a spectacularly true story, and an overall willingness to dare, A Civil Action is a great achievement. May it be marked as one of the few films of 1998 that was truly great.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews