The crime thriller genre is one that is always hard to write, especially when coming to original premises without any sort of clichés or plot twists. For 1995’s “Just Cause” based on the novel by John Katzenbach, the film suffers not just from those clichés but everything else in between. Directed by Arne Glimcher with the screenplay written by Jeb Stuart and Peter Stone, “Just Cause” is about a Harvard law professor going to Florida to reopen a murder case where he uncovers racism and corruption. With the help of a psychotic convict and an overeager sheriff, he finds evidence of the accused man’s innocence, later to his own regret where he uncovers more details relating to his own family. Now with a promising cast led by Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne along with Kate Capshaw, Blair Underwood, Ed Harris, and not to mention appearances from Ned Beatty, Ruby Dee, George Plimpton, Liz Torres, Lynne Thigpen, Daniel J. Travanti, Kevin McCarthy, and Scarlett Johansson (in her second feature-film). “Just Cause” might seem like a great thriller but poor direction, derivative writing, and wasted performances only makes the film suffer from its own clichés.

For a young man in the swamps of South Florida named Bobby Earl (Blair Underwood), his life always seem to be unlucky when he was accused of killing an 11-year old girl where he was beaten by corrupt, racist officers into a confession where he was sent to jail. Nearly 10 years later, Bobby Earl sends his grandmother Evangeline (Ruby Dee) to find a lawyer to help re-open his case. Evangeline turns to Harvard law professor Paul Armstrong (Sean Connery), for help but he is reluctant in returning to law since he’s more interested in teaching and writing books on law. After counseling with wife and former lawyer Laurie (Kate Capshaw), Paul decides to help Evangeline to help free Bobby Earl. With young daughter Kate (Scarlett Johansson) joining in their trip to Miami for the case, Paul gets help from Laurie’s father Phil (Kevin McCarthy) in finding reports on Bobby Earl with help from archivist Dolores (Liz Torres).

After meeting Earl in prison, Paul learned that he was beaten into confession not just by a white corruptive sheriff named Wilcox (Christopher Murray) but also a black sheriff named Tanny Brown (Laurence Fishburne). Going further into a small town in South Florida, Paul investigates the town and talked to a few of its people about the murder victim where he talked to a schoolteacher (Lynne Thigpen) who saw a car that looked like the one Bobby Earl used to own. After that interrogation, Paul meets with Brown, who shows him the place where he found the girl’s body while trying to prove that Earl is the killer and he’s no corrupt cop. After meeting with another man named Lyle Morgan (Chris Sarandon) and former D.A. named McNair (Ned Beatty), Brown tells Paul about a kidnapping case Earl was into where Paul’s wife was the prosecutor and the case got dropped. Laurie confesses to Paul about the case and her feelings for not getting involved with this particular case, only that if Earl is free, she will feel better for trying him on court.

After discussing with Earl about the kidnapping, Earl claims the killer of that little girl was Blair Sullivan (Ed Harris), a bible-talking psychopath. Sullivan is interrogated by Paul where the convict, about to be executed, tells Paul about lies and a sign that will lead to clues about the girl’s murder. Paul turns to Brown, who learns that the murder was something personal to Brown because his daughter was a friend of the victim. Brown, to his reluctance helps Paul find what they were looking for, a knife. Brown couldn’t believe that the knife was found as it helps Earl’s case to be free but Brown’s gut feeling wasn’t convinced of Earl’s innocence. Paul assumes his troubles are over until Sullivan calls him where he learns more things that relates to the murder where to his own regret, realizes that he’s been played.

What makes “Just Cause” such a frustrating film is the fact that you had something promising to begin with in the murder but then after an hour of the film, everything seems to be done. Instead, ridiculous third act and a very lame twist where a few people get killed and there’s a gator and all of these things. Making things worse is the film’s screenplay where it plays to its genre and suffers in being derivative. The film’s third act and the sequences with Ed Harris’ Blair Sullivan makes everything else seems like another movie. Now if you ignore the film’s expertly done photography, editing, and such, you really don’t have anything else. Arne Glimcher’s direction is poorly executed and fails in even becoming an interesting thriller where the third act almost plays like an action film with a silly car chase scene. In the end, you pretty figure out what happens and the whole movie becomes a total waste.

“Just Cause” is even more unforgivable for its casting of such talented actors. The movie begins to play like, “Hey, there’s that person” and such. While Kevin McCarthy, Lynne Thigpen, Chris Sarandon, Ned Beatty, Ruby Dee, and Daniel J. Travanti as the warden are good in their small times, they end up becoming totally wasted. They really do nothing but just appear in the movie and even George Plimpton’s cameo doesn’t add much. It’s a great waste of talent for this cast. Even in her pre-“Manny & Lo” breakthrough performance, Scarlett Johansson doesn’t really do much but act like a child and say “I love you” to her father but by the third act, where she’s in danger, she was the only person, aside from Laurence Fishburne, to do any real kind of acting. Still, it was a long way to go from that to being in landmark films like “Lost in Translation” and “Ghost World” for the future young talent.

Christopher Murray’s performance as one of the corrupt cops is really more than just a cliché of corrupt cops where he doesn’t do anything at all except gets killed in the third act. Kate Capshaw is wasted in the role of a wife who gets in trouble and has these secrets and doesn’t really do any kind of intense, dramatic acting. Blair Underwood displays some charms in the film’s first hour while playing good at being innocent but when the third act comes, he ends up being completely absurd and we immediately forget about what he even did in the film’s first two acts. Sean Connery may instill that handsome roguishly charm that made him famous but that doesn’t even help to save the film. While he does well throughout most of the film, he ends up being duped in the end and you out there screaming, “You’re a Harvard law professor, how in the hell could you be duped?”

The film’s two best performances without a doubt go to Ed Harris and Laurence Fishburne. For his brief screen time, Ed Harris easily does his best psychotic killer impression by going nuts, sending letters to families of victims he killed, and quoting the bible. Harris is just completely over-the-top and makes you wish he were in the film a whole lot more. With Ed Harris, even in a bad movie, you can always expect a top-notch performance. Laurence Fishburne brings a more complex performance as Tanny Brown, a man that is unlikable at times but you find reasons for his anger and frustration, especially why the case is so close to him. Fishburne has amazing scenes with Connery as the two display a wonderful tension between book smarts and street smarts. Fishburne is clearly the film’s most pivotal performance whose talent doesn’t get wasted.

Overall, “Just Cause” is just a mess of a thriller that tries to become interesting but fails in its execution. With the exception of Ed Harris and Laurence Fishburne, the film doesn’t fare well that not even its talented cast could save the film’s poor direction and generic script. Fans of Connery would expect better from James Bond while fans of Fishburne and Harris will find something to watch for. It’s no surprise that director Arne Glimcher only did one more film after this before disappearing. Just ignore “Just Cause” and find some other thriller with less clichés and more talented performances.


Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age