A recently released movie, Juror #2, is an interesting twist of the Henry Fonda film, 12 Angry Men. This has many of the same elements of the 1957 production, including the disinterest in the case by the jurors, wanting to end their court duty and return to their lives or other interests with an apathy of the consequences of their decision.

Unlike the black & white story, Juror #2 tells many more sides to the story. The setting steps outside the courtroom to demonstrate the other factors that influence the case. The perspective and debate of the attorneys is shared in this mystery. Further, the nuances of the court system, its rules, its influences, its flaws, are all carefully conveyed. The film shows the challenges of a jury trial, but it is never disrespectful to the process, which helps to make the narrative not only believable but captivating. Moreover, there are additional variables in the story in both plot and character that add to the thrill.

As with many of the works of Clint Eastwood, the tale deals with moral struggle of what is right and wrong in a very unlikely scenario. However, the build up and delivery create feasibility. The players acting the roles sell the situation in a convincing way to make the oddities plausible.

SYNOPSIS (Spoilers)

Justin Kemp, a family man whose wife is pregnant is called in for Jury Duty. He doesn't want to serve but finds that it is his civic duty. As a result, he’s chosen as one of the twelve jurors, Juror #2 to be precise.

He is assigned to hear the criminal case of a man, James Sythe, who is assumed to have murdered his girlfriend. The prosecution, lead by Faith Killebrew, presents the argument that Sythe, a man with a criminal history and a known temper, was so angry after his rich girlfriend broke up with him that he bashed her over the head with a heavy object, then took her body to a nearby road on a high cliff and tossed it over. However, when the date and place are presented in the evidence, Justin recalls details of his personal life linked to the vicinity. The audience quickly learns tat Juror #2 was at the murder location around the time it happened. It was a cold and raining as Justin drove when suddenly his vehicle struck something. His tires squeal to a stop. He gets out, looks around but finds nothing. Convinced it must have been a deer, Justin speeds off to return home. However, this coincidence becomes overwhelming as he realizes that he, rather than the man on trial, might be responsible for the woman's death.

The other important detail is that Justin has a past involving alcohol. Also, his wife had had previous miscarriages. Coincidentally, the very night of the murder was the due date of their lost twins. Because of this painful memorial, Justin had stopped in a nearby bar, in fact the same bar where Sythe and his girlfriend publicly argued, which became the motive portion of the homicide case. Of course, Justin is not suppose to be around alcohol as this is a rule of the probation from his past. Tempted to drown his sorrows, Justin finds the will to resist drinking even one sip. However, this would create a serious legal problem for him should he come forward to offer that he might have hit Sythe's girlfriend rather than a deer. Now, he fears that it might ruin his wife's pregnancy should these details come out.

Completely rattled by the situation, Juror #2 cannot face the idea of returning a guilty verdict against a man who probably did not commit the crime. Now Justin feels compelled to sway the other jurors not to convict, but he must do this in a way that doesn't draw suspicion to himself. As they begin, most are ready to convict; however, as deliberations progress, reasonable doubt is slowly raised in the minds of roughly half the group. But the jury continues to be locked for a long period of time.

Faith, the prosecutor, expected a verdict to be returned quicker. Between that and a conversation with a dismissed juror, the district attorney begins to look at the case again, considering a hit-and-run as another possibility for the girl's death. After checking up on the police work around the strongest pieces of evidence, mainly an eye witness. It turns out the police failed to consider any other possibility and swayed the testimony of the witness to construct the narrative. Frustrated by incomplete police work, Faith starts her own investigation into the all of the cars that had auto work that time last year. After narrowing the field, she finds that there are a handful of cars that could’ve done it. Then comes the moment; she discovers that one of those vehicles turns out to belong to Justin’s wife.

The jury deliberations continue and include a court-approved field trip to the scene of the crime. It is at this time that Justin realizes he will never turn all the jurors, but further that a mistrial would likely place his family in jeopardy. As a result, he justifies that he can't be sure; he rationalizes that the man on trial is still a bad and criminal person, even if not a murderer. Justin decides that Sythe is bad for his community, that Sythe will likely just hurt others in the future, and that even if Justin is responsible, he is a changed man, a good man, a man whose family should not suffer because of the unknowns. He relents his holdout with the jury, and shortly thereafter, a unanimous guilty verdict is returned.

Meanwhile, while the prosecution won the criminal case, Faith realizes that something was wrong and justice was not served by this trial. However, she also was recently elected to a prestigious political position. She struggles with what to do. If she shares what she has learned publicly, it would damage her relationship with the police force and likely ruin her career. While this moral dilemma blatantly weighs heavy on her, Faith appears to reluctantly accept that the system is not perfect, and she must put the matter behind her.

However, the story does not end on this unsettling sour note. Justin is seen with his newborn child; his wife successfully delivered the child with no complications and the future looks bright. Then there is a knock at the door. As Justin opens it, he sees Faith standing there. As the two stare at one another, the scene fades to black.

ENIGMATIC ENDING

Dating back to High Plains Drifter, many of Eastwood's endings are not clear. Unforgiven is another example. Thus, this film is no exception. We simply do not know what happens next. Is Faith there to help Justin? to offer him a safe way to come clean and dismiss the wrongful conviction? Perhaps she is there to serve him with a warrant. We just don't know. And to make matters worse, Eastwood shot a few different endings. One final scene was as shown in the theater. Another was with Faith at the door with police officers at her side. Yet another was just her but with a police cars driving up behind her. Considering these shots, I'd opine Faith planned to prosecute Justin; however, since Eastwood chose the more mysterious portrayal, it allows the audience draw its own conclusion despite a lack of consensus. Yet in a weird way, that lack of consensus and that unproven evidence was much of what the entire movie was about -- if you think about it, by the end of the film, we still don't really know if Justin’s car was the cause of the woman's death.

Dj Hackney, the Unqualified Film Critic
Reviewed on December 5, 2024