Primal Fear
Little <PERSON> in his first ever feature film which also happens to be one of, if not, the best performance he has ever given. Also, gotta love seeing a young <PERSON>, aka, the legend himself, <PERSON>.
Anyone who’s been following this account for awhile knows that I’m a sucker for a good crime drama. I’m also a sucker for a good psychological thriller, so ya, this film was a bit of a slam dunk for me.
Primal Fear is captivating. From start to finish I was glued to the screen, on the edge of my seat, constantly trying to figure out what was going on. It’s disturbing, grotesque, incredibly well-acted, perfectly paced, and just an overall great script.
From a technical standpoint there’s nothing brilliant about the film. It’s shot in a fairly basic manner and just looks like your everyday 90s courtroom drama. 217
What separates it is how brilliantly it is written and executed. It’s full of twists and turns and moral ambiguity, it forces the viewer to take sides and then goes on to makes you feel like a fool. The plot twist in this film is genuinely one of the best executed and well developed twists I have ever seen. It’s comparable to The Usual Suspects in just how perfectly executed the twist is. It’s not that it’s extremely surprising or even that shocking, but it’s full of layers making it so riveting to see unfold.
This film is masterwork of psychological screenwriting. The ending had me in awe and left me filled with so many questions related to ethics. The ending is extremely pessimistic but it works so well.
If this film was shot a bit better and overall just had less of a 90s vibe to it, it would honestly be very close to perfect.
Grade: 86% 583