‘Juror #2’: Review

Dir: Clint Eastwood. US. 2024. 114mins

In recent years, Clint Eastwood’s films have often paid tribute to ordinary men who stand up and do what is right. With Juror #2, he tweaks that tendency in a fascinating fashion, telling the story of a troubled writer who discovers that he may be intimately connected to the murder trial in which he is sitting as an impartial juror. Nicholas Hoult gives a nicely modulated performance, conveying the character’s conflicting feelings of guilt, fear and moral conscience as he begins to realise that he, in fact, may be responsible for the accidental killing. This sturdy courtroom drama moves along briskly, asking questions about personal ethics while supplying the genre’s comfy pleasures.

A typical lack of flash from Eastwood, who turned 94 this summer

After an AFI Fest premiere, Warner Bros. releases Juror #2 in the UK and US this Friday, catering to older audiences and Eastwood’s longtime fans. This modest picture, which boasts dependable supporting work from Toni Collette and JK Simmons, is not expected to be a strong theatrical player. But Juror #2 should be warmly welcomed by at-home viewers, especially those who enjoy the myriad TV dramas involving law and order.

Hoult plays Justin, a features writer who is selected for a jury that will deliberate on a high-profile homicide involving James (Gabriel Basso), a violent man accused of killing his girlfriend Kendall (Francesca Eastwood) after a fight in a bar on a rainy night. Prosecutor Faith (Collette) believes she has an airtight case, betting that a conviction will help win her the election for district attorney. But the more Justin hears in the courtroom, the more he worries: at the time of the murder, he was at the same bar and drove away, accidentally hitting what he assumed was a deer down the road. But maybe he was wrong — perhaps he struck Kendall that stormy evening.

Working from a script by Jonathan Abrams, Eastwood delivers a variation on 12 Angry Men, with a twist. Justin’s fellow jurors are convinced James is guilty thanks to eyewitness testimony and the defendant’s history of violence, but Justin, riddled with guilt, works to persuade the others that maybe they need more time to pore over the case. While Justin is not positive that his car hit Kendall, the layout of the evening’s events — which includes a crucial period of time after she walked out of the bar alone — suggests that was the exact moment Justin had his accident. Justin does not want James to be convicted, but the more he argues for the defendant, the more it leaves room for the evidence to point at him. With a very pregnant wife (Zoey Deutch) at home, will he risk his future to do the right thing?

Juror #2 features the typical lack of flash from Eastwood, who turned 94 this summer. The director allows Justin’s moral dilemma to add sufficient suspense to what is otherwise a compelling but fairly straightforward procedural. And Hoult brings complexity to his silently anguished character, a recovering alcoholic grateful for the second chances he has been afforded. The actor conveys both Justin’s desire to save James and his hesitation to come clean about what actually took place. Eastwood’s heroes are frequently meant to be inspirational, but Justin is a far more nuanced protagonist — one who recognises that ensuring justice for James may mean destroying the life he has meticulously rebuilt after a string of DUIs. (Crucially, Justin had not been drinking that fateful night when he drove off.) To give the defendant, an equally flawed man, redemption, Justin might have to jeopardise his own.

The plot machinations may be familiar for the genre, but there is welcome shading within the narrative. Simmons is excellent as another juror, a former detective named Harold, who believes Justin about James’ innocence and does some investigating on his own. But to Justin’s chagrin, Harold quickly deduces that the murder was probably a hit-and-run, his findings tightening the noose around Justin’s neck.

Justin is not alone in grappling with guilt, however. Faith is a potentially stereotypical ambitious prosecutor, but Collette instead portrays her as a noble, dedicated attorney who starts to have her own doubts about the case. Separately, Faith begins digging deeper, her revelations risking her chance of victory at the polls if it turns out James did not kill his girlfriend. Juror #2 has its occasional creaky moments and illogic, but Eastwood has a firm hand on the wheel, invested in his characters’ ethical conundrums as much as he is in the courtroom drama. The film builds to a conclusion that is unexpected but surprisingly effective in its understatement, suggesting that this veteran director can still find new ways to explore what everyday courage looks like.