24 October 2000
Primal Fear is a thriller that wants to disguise itself as a film that should be taken seriously, the subject matter involves sexual exploitation and murder. It doesn't achieve the importance and significance it wants to obtain. It is covered with noticeable flaws that damage the viewer's experience drastically, these failed accomplishments create an irrelevant resolution to a story that is not too memorable.
A Hot-shot lawyer (Richard Gere) is the main protagonist of the picture and delivers a sleazy and monotonous performance. Laura Linney tries her best to pull off a somewhat adequate performance but that is a difficult task when you have to work with such a bland script. Her character is filled with cheesy one liners that sound and look cringe-worthy. Edward Norton is by far the most interesting aspect of the film, his character is intriguing and amusing to discover with extra detail and attention once you finally know his hidden secret.
The pacing feels very slow and it almost seems as if the viewer will not reach the end of the trial without losing interest in the process. The rhythm is sluggish and the execution of the plot doesn't help. They should've pushed the story even further because what we ultimately received was simply not interesting enough to hold my attention for 2 hours and 10 minutes. The cinematography focuses on a gloomy, damp and dreary atmosphere so it could match the dramatisation of the story. The romance and chemistry between Richard Grere and Laura Linney distracted me from the general plot and in the end their relationship amounted to nothing. Their complications about them two loving each other was unnecessary, strip all those scenes away and we would've gotten a more balanced pacing and a shorter runtime which would've helped.
I don't recommend Primal Fear. It's an unmemorable courtroom thriller with an unstable script. It takes too long to progress from one scene to the other and in the long run it pays for it because the ending did not captivate me like it normally should have. It tried to let go of me too early and I definitely did not hold on until the end.
Primal Fear is a thriller that wants to disguise itself as a film that should be taken seriously, the subject matter involves sexual exploitation and murder. It doesn't achieve the importance and significance it wants to obtain. It is covered with noticeable flaws that damage the viewer's experience drastically, these failed accomplishments create an irrelevant resolution to a story that is not too memorable.
A Hot-shot lawyer (Richard Gere) is the main protagonist of the picture and delivers a sleazy and monotonous performance. Laura Linney tries her best to pull off a somewhat adequate performance but that is a difficult task when you have to work with such a bland script. Her character is filled with cheesy one liners that sound and look cringe-worthy. Edward Norton is by far the most interesting aspect of the film, his character is intriguing and amusing to discover with extra detail and attention once you finally know his hidden secret.
The pacing feels very slow and it almost seems as if the viewer will not reach the end of the trial without losing interest in the process. The rhythm is sluggish and the execution of the plot doesn't help. They should've pushed the story even further because what we ultimately received was simply not interesting enough to hold my attention for 2 hours and 10 minutes. The cinematography focuses on a gloomy, damp and dreary atmosphere so it could match the dramatisation of the story. The romance and chemistry between Richard Grere and Laura Linney distracted me from the general plot and in the end their relationship amounted to nothing. Their complications about them two loving each other was unnecessary, strip all those scenes away and we would've gotten a more balanced pacing and a shorter runtime which would've helped.
I don't recommend Primal Fear. It's an unmemorable courtroom thriller with an unstable script. It takes too long to progress from one scene to the other and in the long run it pays for it because the ending did not captivate me like it normally should have. It tried to let go of me too early and I definitely did not hold on until the end.
