Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, Chris Messina, Zoey Deutch, Kiefer Sutherland
Certificate: 12A
Run Time: 114 mins

Juror No. 2 is the new Clint Eastwood film and possibly his last. A legal thriller, the film opens with Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) being summoned for jury service, with his wife Ally (Zoey Deutch) due to give birth any day. A recovering alcoholic, Justin soon realises he may have been responsible for the death he’s a member of the jury for and his guilt-ridden conscious starts to affect his judgement. Eastwood’s as adept behind the camera as he is in front of it. Unfortunately, Cry Macho, his previous film bombed at the box office (despite being excellent) and Warner Bros initially envisioned this film as a direct-to-streaming release on Max. Sacrilege. The studio since decided to release the film in fewer than 50 cinemas in the US and not report on the box office results, a peculiar approach for such the prolific nonagenarian director.

Warner Bros may well come to regret this decision because Juror No. 2 is another excellent Eastwood effort and is akin to a lower-profile melding of 12 Angry Men and Anatomy of a Fall. What initially seems like a fairly routine, low-profile case gradually turns into a crime with plenty of holes. A morally ambiguous film that asks its audience what they would do in the main character’s situation, Jonathan Abrams’ script does a good job of messing with its audience’s minds in creating doubt of what’s being portrayed on-screen. The film also questions the imperfect nature of the justice system, even if it’s rather unsubtle. But Eastwood does a better job of analysing the biases that certain characters bring into the courtroom, from the lawyers defending and prosecuting the accused to the backstories of the jury members.

Nicholas Hoult makes for an excellent lead and we’re never sure whether we can fully side with him or not, despite making a compelling case for the decisions he makes. Zoey Deutch also makes an impact as his trusting wife and the disappointment she conveys when he takes a wrong decision. Toni Collette, in a rather strange reuniting with her About A Boy co-star, is reliably strong as the prosecuting Assistant District Attorney Faith Killebrew, who seems somewhat impenetrable in her opinion initially but then starts to show a different side. The script also does an excellent job in how the jury members’ backgrounds clash and we can empathise why they may feel a certain way.

While Juror No. 2 isn’t overlong, I think its message would be even more impactful if it were 15 minutes shorter. The film seems like it has multiple endings and a tighter run time would strengthen its messaging. As is typical for many of Eastwood’s films, its direction is rather workmanlike but the film works for its simplicity. It’s nowhere near one of Eastwood’s best but Juror No. 2 is a typically thoughtful piece from the multi-faceted director and if this is indeed his last film, it’s a good one to go out on.