A young lawyer takes a dream job only to find out he is working for the mob and that the Feds want to use him to destroy the firm.
Genre: Suspense
Rating: R
Release Date: 19-AUG-2003
Media Type: DVD
Nancy W. from CHARLOTTE, NC Reviewed on 12/31/2010...
So dang scary it is believable!!! Good movie.
3 of 4 member(s) found this review helpful.
Movie Reviews
Highly Entertaining--Great Acting
Craig Clarke | New England | 05/10/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Okay, so Tom Cruise gets a job at a Memphis law firm, right? We've all read the book or seen the movie, so how does one recommend this to one uninitiated?Cruise puts in a solid performance, again playing his guy-who-doesn't-catch-on-for-a-while character he does so well. Sydney Pollack is a great mainstream director, and he pushes all the buttons, as well as giving us a great cast including Gene Hackman, Holly Hunter, Ed Harris, Jeanne Tripplehorn, David Straithairn, Gary Busey, Hal Holbrook, and Wilford Brimley.Top-notch acting all around, with especially good turns by Brimley and Hunter, playing against type. Hackman is always good to watch and he does a terrific job of making Avery Tolar a likeable guy in spite of his faults. I suppose the most amazing job was done by David Straithairn, who, with less than ten minutes of screen time, paints an indelible portrait of Ray McDeere, Cruise's convict brother. He is the most likeable character in the film.The plot is the standard rising-above-conflict stuff. Watch this movie (again) for the performances, or for the fine score from Dave Grusin and try to ignore the changes from the book (which I think were justified in making the ending more cinematic and Hollywood)."
Better than a book!
A. Chopra | 02/16/2006
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Nothing can be better than "The Firm" written by John Grisham, who himself is a lawyer. The attentions to details that Grisham manages to pull are just fantastic. I read the book before watching the movie, and hence can compare and tell that the movie has been directed perfectly and in fact a lot more interesting than the book, as the book gets slow in between, but not the movie.
Cruise's is superb, so are the other actors in this movie. I don't know why people have given negative reviews by comparing it with real life scenarios. This is a movie based on a fiction novel, and as rightly said by one of reviewer here;it does its job by entertaining the audiences. "
Read the book
Wendy Linton-Smith | Los Angeles, CA | 01/07/2003
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The book was just so much better that it was hard to get into the movie. I don't think Tom Cruise was best suited for the role. He lacked a maturity even for a young lawyer and his performance was uneven. But the movie looks good and it is entertaining, but if you've read the book you'll find yourself drawing unfavorable comparisons."
Objection, Your Honor
Larry Scantlebury | Ypsilanti, MI United States | 05/08/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is the first novel of John Grisham and like the movie, it's very strong in characters and dialogue. At the time he wrote it, there was some pretty good attempts at making good 'lawyer' movies. "Witness for the Prosecution" comes to mind. And we had uncovered a whole raft of great new mystery writers like Parker, Crais, Lehane, George, and Grafton. But the legal-mystery novel was uncharted land and Grisham plowed it over with a passion. How was Grisham to know that like the fall of communism had given "evil empire" writers like Len Deighton and John LeCarre fits, eventually the public would tire at lawyers, even laughing at them?
Nevertheless, it's a good book and also an excellent movie. If there are drawbacks, then truthfully there are some areas that require a little trust. The lawfirm itself for example. Sexual misconduct in a lawfirm? Sure. Misconduct in billing? Always. Stealing from the evidence locker of ill gotten gains? Occasionally. But murdering associates who try to leave? I don't think so. (But it does give Department of Justice cop Ed Harris a great line in the movie, "McDeere, no one has left your firm alive!")
The movie has a solid script and a great cast to carry it. The lovely Jeanne Tripplehorn, the this time not very grandfatherly Wilfred Brimley, Holly Hunter, always a hoot, Gary Busey, Hal Holbrook and Law and Order's Steven Hill, to mention a few. And Tom Cruise as always doing a powerful job who suddenly realizes that the pot of gold at the end of his and Abbey's rainbow has a HAZMAT sticker on it that he's overlooked. Cruise is just great. A true Hitchkockian character, the average man with no where to run.
What would you do if you found that the company you had waited for all your life was evil from top to bottom? That's The Firm. 5 stars. Larry Scantlebury"
An excellent film
Mrs Plum | Market Blandings | 12/29/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"One of the best things about The Firm, is that it doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence by labouring the point. The film and plot are developed through visuals as well as dialogue. From other reviews here, I gather that viewers used to having film plots spoon-fed to them may find this challenging or confusing, but I prefer it. If necessary, try watching the film twice. It is certainly good enough for a repeat viewing.
I'm not a Tom Cruise fan, nor a John Grisham reader, but this is the kind of role he is well suited to. The supporting cast is excellent, excellent, excellent. The film is well paced and the locations, cinematography and soundtrack all combine to create an enjoyable and suspenseful film. "