The Firm put John Grisham on the movie map, which is a sin unto itself in retrospect, but a box office success or not, I really do find it to be a piece of hackery. You'd think a lawyer-turned-writer would give us a proper legal drama, but though the solutions are reasonably ingenious uses of the law (I guess, I'm just a layman), the premise would be done more honestly with The Devil's Advocate some years later. It's a big conspiracy that requires Tom Cruise's hero to do at least one out-of-character thing to make things complicated down the line, and which culminates in a tepid action chase around Memphis in which the most ridiculous pencil-pushing villain decides to start acting like a goon for hire. It's certainly a strong cast, with Gene Hackman showing some depth as one of the more textured conspirators, but I think I probably jumped off ship when Cruise and his wife escaped into the suburb streets because their house was bugged and proceeded to shout their conversation about the conspiracy in the open air. They should have been dead the next day. The Firm is a watchable enough thriller, and Sydney Pollack can at times do effective paranoia, but it's too procedural and grounded most of the time to earn its silly pulp shenanigans.
Add your comment
Comments 1 - 7 of 7
fraveu
Man, have you read the book?! Really great.backeby
Intricate soundtrack.chunkylefunga
Amazed this movie did soo well at the box office, it's too long, very hacked, and nowhere near other similar films of the era.Siskoid
The Firm put John Grisham on the movie map, which is a sin unto itself in retrospect, but a box office success or not, I really do find it to be a piece of hackery. You'd think a lawyer-turned-writer would give us a proper legal drama, but though the solutions are reasonably ingenious uses of the law (I guess, I'm just a layman), the premise would be done more honestly with The Devil's Advocate some years later. It's a big conspiracy that requires Tom Cruise's hero to do at least one out-of-character thing to make things complicated down the line, and which culminates in a tepid action chase around Memphis in which the most ridiculous pencil-pushing villain decides to start acting like a goon for hire. It's certainly a strong cast, with Gene Hackman showing some depth as one of the more textured conspirators, but I think I probably jumped off ship when Cruise and his wife escaped into the suburb streets because their house was bugged and proceeded to shout their conversation about the conspiracy in the open air. They should have been dead the next day. The Firm is a watchable enough thriller, and Sydney Pollack can at times do effective paranoia, but it's too procedural and grounded most of the time to earn its silly pulp shenanigans.arrbrr
good book, bad movie!Dieguito
OK0ptriX
Where's the 2009 one?