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Primal Fear

1996

Gregory Hoblit

Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Edward Norton, John Mahoney ...

7.3

33,433

Mystery. Drama In Chicago, an Archbishop has been brutally murdered, and a sweet-faced altar boy named Aaron -- who was seen fleeing the scene of the crime and whose clothes were soaked in blood -- is charged with the crime. Aaron claims he was present when the murder occurred, but that he is not the killer. Coming to Aaron's rescue in this high-profile case is Martin Vail, a cocky lawyer who loves the media's spotlight as much as he loves his job. ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times	"The plot is as good as crime procedurals get, but the movie is really better than its plot because of the three-dimensional characters (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	James Berardinelli ReelViews	"One of the most unfortunate aspects of a courtroom thriller is the tendency to degenerate into preposterous melodrama (...) ['Primal Fear] is an obvious example"	NEG
United States	Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times	"A tight courtroom melodrama that serves up twist after twist (...) this film handles its suspenseful material with skill and style"	POS
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"You'd get more of a jolt from Angela Lansbury on "Murder, She Wrote" and more intellectual stimulation from a cozy game of Clue"	NEG
United States	Todd McCarthy Variety	"'Primal Fear' resembles a high-end telefilm (...) [The] film has plenty to say, but does so a bit insistently and obviously"	NEU
United Kingdom	Kim Newman Empire	"Confusing, badly scripted courtroom thriller that is more contrived than believable (...) Rating: ★★ (out of 5)"	NEG
United Kingdom	Time Out	"There are twists, but few surprises (...) Norton shows notable range, but unfortunately in an environment too mechanical for it to prove much."	NEG

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