(This “Double Jeopardy“ thing is a real bitch, ain‘t it? )
CAST: Gary Oldman, Kevin Bacon, Tess Harper, Karen Young, Joe Don Baker, Elizabeth Shepherd.
DIRECTOR: Martin Campbell
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and one defense attorney with a big problem straight ahead…
You know how often in thrillers the hero will discover a mutilated dead body - and do nothing more extreme than gasp loudly? Like he finds shit like this every night? Well, I used to tell myself that for once I’d like to see a thriller hero react to a mangled corpse the same way a real person would: scream like a little girl and run in ever-growing circles until he slams, face-first, into someone’s porch. Where he basically curls up into a fetal position and continues screaming in a way that would shame hyenas and toddlers around the globe.
I’m happy to report that our next review, CRIMINAL LAW, features this very exact scene - and it’s fucking hilarious. Except, well, this flick is a gritty thriller and I’m sure the sequence wasn’t supposed to send me out of my chair with laughter. Nevertheless, that’s the effect it had on me. There’s nothing like seeing a grown man scrambling through the forest like someone just slipped him a Firepoker Enema - all the while screaming like Little Orphan Annie with a bee in her curls.
Our, ahem, “hero” is hot-shot attorney Ben Chase (Gary Oldman) - and the scene in question sees him finding the latest victim of a serial killer who’s been terrorizing Boston in the past months. Ben discovers the corpse in a park in the middle of a rainy night and, like I mentioned before, he pretty much proves what a man he is by screaming like a little biyatch and forgetting how to put one foot in front of the other in a way that resembles organized movement.
But before we get to that scene, we need to backtrack a bit. As discussed, Ben is an on-his-way-up defense attorney who has recently cleared rich dickhead, Martin Thiel (Kevin Bacon), from murder charges. Ben basically tears apart an eyewitness’ testimony that would have placed Martin at the scene of the latest in a string of vicious serial murders of women. The result? You got it: Martin gets off, and I don’t mean in that way that makes you want to smoke a cigarette afterwards. Although he could do that too if he wanted.
A free man, Martin basically hop-skips-jumps his way out of the courtroom. He just stops short of giving the finger to the prosecution’s table - but you know he thought about it. Now he’s free to go back to his rich playboy ways. Ben, on the other hand, is basking in the glory of his case victory, which has attracted the attention of a top law firm in Boston. Seems like this case might just be a win-win for our boys Ben and Martin.
And then that “screaming like a little bitch” scene arrives - and everything goes south. You see, not long after Martin gets off (ha-ha, love it), he calls Ben and tells him that he just might be retaining our hot-shot attorney’s services after all. Martin tells Ben to meet him at a city park one rainy night. Ben falls for it and heads on over just like any dedicated, if also a little crazy, defense attorney would do. Unfortunately, instead of finding Martin, he finds another mutilated corpse. Commence the aforementioned hyena-like screaming.
When questioned by Boston PD detectives Mesel and Stilwell (Joe Don Baker, Tess Harper), Ben inexplicably tells them that he was “out jogging” and not “meeting up with my obviously-guilty client.” Which would’ve solved the fucking case right there. Martin, for his part, takes Ben’s failure to disclose the real reason he was at the park as a sign that Ben is on his side. Which leads to more freaky shit happening. Like Ben refusing to get a haircut. What the fuck is up with that pompadour? Damn.
Further complicating matters is the latest victim’s best friend, Ellen Faulkner (Karen Young). Ellen is, shall we say, just a little pissed off when she finds out the murder suspect is none other than Martin, a man that Ben recently got off (love it, love it). This doesn’t exactly bode well for their chances at a romance together. But, apparently, in Movieland, the more mismatched a couple is, the better. How else do you explain Meg Ryan and Antonio Banderas in MY MOTHER‘S BOYFRIEND? I’m still trying to figure that one out.
Whatever. So… some important questions: how will this game of cat-and-mouse between Martin and Ben end? If Martin can’t be tried again for the earlier murders, can he be tried for the new ones? How long can Ben stay silent while Martin continues to kill? Is Ben’s decision to continue to represent Martin to be able to trap him, a smart one? Or has Martin been three steps ahead of him all this time? What happens when Ellen pitches in and helps Ben uncover proof? Will she be endangered? Will Martin just, ahem, get off again?
Time will tell. And so will the sheets. Ha ha. Sorry. Couldn’t resist.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: In our recent review for the Cher / Dennis Quaid / Liam Neeson thriller SUSPECT (review # 283), we saw a harried and underpaid Public Defender urgently try to win a seemingly insurmountable case. In our latest review, the sleek 1988 thriller CRIMINAL LAW, we find ourselves seeing the same exact thing from the standpoint of a slick defense attorney. Another key difference between SUSPECT and CRIMINAL LAW is that the former had an innocent defendant, while the latter most definitely has one that is guilty as sin.
Director Martin Campbell, who would go on to direct the James Bond flicks GOLDENEYE and CASINO ROYALE, displays a fine command of the thriller craft here. He knows how to build a suspense set-piece and milk it for all the atmosphere it’s worth. A couple of winners: (1) Ben’s discovery of Martin’s latest victim in the rainy park; and (2) Martin chasing Ellen through an empty clinic after-hours after she uncovers proof of his involvement in the killings. Both these scenes are nail-biters, and Campbell’s mark is all over them: kinetic, eerie, suspenseful.
The cast is uniformly strong. Gary Oldman turns Ben into one of those guys who’s got the world in the palm of his hands - until things start to go wrong. Then we discover the moral fiber that is at the heart of him. He won’t rest until he rights the mistake he made. Oldman’s intensity is a perfect match for that of Kevin Bacon, who brings a truly scary edge to Martin Thiel. Ultimately, some of Martin’s actions (expecting Ben to cover for him; blatantly going after Ellen) are a little too much to swallow. However, Bacon is so effectively unnerving that you don’t question it too much in the moment.
As for the female characters, both Karen Young and Tess Harper knock their roles out of the park. Both are playing women who are tough, capable, resourceful, but still feminine. Young, in particular, is great as Ellen and while self-reliant and independent heroines are the norm these days, seeing one in a 1988 film is a real pleasure. It’s not too farfetched to posit that the character of Ellen Faulkner may have helped paved the way for the commonplace “tough” thriller heroines of today.
The only reason CRIMINAL LAW fails to ultimately reach a rating of good, and merely remains above-average, is due to the fact that the climax of the script makes no sense. I don’t know how to describe it without spoiling it, but it almost seems like the writers weren’t sure how to end the story, and after a strong first three-quarters, decided to go for the most nonsensical denouement ever. All I’ll say is this: for such a clever psychopath as Martin Thiel to make the moronic choices he does at the end of the film is just unbelievable. The result is an ending that, while suspenseful and gripping in the moment, ultimately feels rushed and a cheat.
In the end, CRIMINAL LAW is a mostly-strong thriller that thrives on the intensity and talent of its cast and director. Had a script rewrite been done on that climactic showdown, the film would have rated higher. As it is, it’s merely an above-average thriller with greater potential…
