I haven't seen a lot of Clint Eastwood films but I would say this is probably his best film. What really holds this film up from being mostly mediocre is the performances. A majority of the actors do a pretty great job with Sam Rockwell and Kathy Bates stealing the show. Rockwell brings this attorney with a temper and emotion for his old friend to life while Kathy Bates brings a loving mother figure for Richard with probably the most powerful scene and performance in the entire film. This is Paul Walter Hauser's first major leading role in a film and I felt he did a pretty great job. He was able to show a lot of emotion with just his body movements. Olivia Wilde and Jon Hamm did a good job but just weren't as good as the rest of the cast. The film's message is very poignant in our culture today. The film's central message is that we need to take news from ANY source with a grain of salt because they could be totally inaccurate or blown out of proportion to make someone look like a monster. While portions of the film were generally uninteresting, there were a couple of scenes I thought were really well put together and executed. One such scene would be the actual bombing scene in the beginning of the film. The sequence was incredibly tense because you know the bomb is about to go off but you don't know when. There is an interview sequence with Richard Jewell's mother and it was my favorite scene in the film. Kathy Bates breaking down with everyone around her starting to realize that Jewell may be innocent was pretty powerful. The final scene I really liked was a sequence close to the end of the film where Richard Jewell finally confronts the FBI. The way Richard Jewell confronts the FBI and talks to them about why he is being investigated and when they don't respond is pretty powerful but not the most powerful scene. The thing that keeps this film from being higher than a 7 is that the technical aspects are just okay. The cinematography is serviceable and the script is fine. The film says what it needs to say and then ends. It's plain and simple. Overall, Richard Jewell provides an insightful message on our culture today about the media with powerful performances to back it up.
Review of Richard Jewell
