Juror #2: An Intense and Unique Moral Dilemma

Production Company: Dichotomy Films; Malpaso Productions

Director: Clint Eastwood

Streaming Service: Max

Release Date: October 27, 2024

Rating/Genre: PG-13, Thriller/Drama

Description: An incredibly unique story that had me drawn in the entire time.

I remember being at the theater and seeing a trailer for this film before mine started and I made a mental note that I wanted to see it when it came out. Unfortunately that mental note was completely useless and I entirely forgot about the film’s existence until a couple weeks ago, but I am very happy I finally remembered because this film was so incredibly interesting.

The whole premise of the film is that a man, Juror #2, gets called into jury duty for a case about a man who murdered his girlfriend off the side of a road. As more and more details of the case are revealed, Juror # 2 begins to realize all of the details of the case align with the same night that he hit a supposed deer in the same area. For the rest of the film, he is battling a moral dilemma of how he should go about coming to a decision on this case.

Now, I see a lot of trailers everytime I go to the theaters (obviously), and I often find myself saying, “Wow, I need to see that,” but when I saw the trailer for this film I really meant it and I’m glad I got back around to it. The whole time I was super drawn in and I was honestly on the edge of my seat waiting to see what decision the main character would make because if I were to be in that situation, I would have absolutely no idea what to do. It’s such an insane situation to be put in and it’s a really unique concept.

I do have to mention how great of an actor Nicholas Hoult is because he really sold the film to me. I do believe that this is the first film that I have seen him in and now I want to watch more because he’s incredible as a drama actor. He was able to depict so much emotion with such little action and I really felt like I knew exactly how he was feeling at all times. He’s also just naturally got a kind of worried expression which really helps in the situation his character was in, but that’s just a little added bonus for him I guess.

One thing that I didn’t particularly like about this film was the way some of the scenes were shot. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film directed by Clint Eastwood so I have nothing else to really compare it to, so maybe I just don’t like his style. Nonetheless, I found some of the shots to be too broad or kind of dull or sometimes certain shots were shown for too long and I just thought it felt a little weird. On the other hand some shots were stunning and I loved the look of them. But overall these little details didn’t really take anything huge away from the film and I still was able to stay deep in the plot and I loved it.

Overall, I think that I would give this film a solid 4/5 stars because I loved the plot, the acting, and I could definitely see myself watching it again, but something about the visuals was a little off putting to me. Don't get me wrong, I know that’s just me being nitpicky, but I gotta be honest here. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone who loves true crime or just thinks the plot sounds interesting because I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Reviewer Name: Madisen Hively

Date of Review: 2/17/2025