Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Juror #2’ on Max, a Confident and Riveting Potboiler From Old Pro Clint Eastwood

Burning question: Is Juror #2 (now streaming on Max) Clint Eastwood’s swan song? The Hollywood all-timer is 94, it’s his 40th film as director and his shelves are full of trophies. You could say he’s playing with house money at this point. And you could also say he doesn’t quite fit into the business of contemporary cinema anymore – not because of the quality of his work, but because his longtime studio, Warner Bros., showed little interest in Juror #2, giving it a perfunctory, brief and ridiculously limited theatrical release before shuttling it to home-viewing platforms. Which, frankly, is stupid, especially considering it’s likely his best work since 2004 Oscar darling Million Dollar Baby. It doesn’t seem unreasonable that Eastwood still has considerable gusto behind the camera – it’s just unlikely. 

JUROR #2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: It’s the piece of mail that inevitably elicits audible groans: a jury summons. It has less to do with not wanting to perform your civic duty, and more to do with the disruption of normal life for anywhere from an afternoon to several weeks. It could be worse, though – you could be Justin Kemp (Nicolas Hoult). I mean, this guy finds himself in one hell of a pickle. I’ll explain: During jury selection, he expresses his concern with the commitment, stating that his wife Allison (Zoey Deutch) is dealing with a high-risk pregnancy, and she’s due pretty soon. That doesn’t get him out of it, though (and it probably shouldn’t). He sighs and resigns himself to sitting in court, wrestling with fellow jurors and letting the justice system work.

This isn’t half of the pickle, though. It’s barely even the weird little stem on the end of it. Why? We’re getting there. Patience, please. It’s a murder trial. Michael Sythe (Gabriel Basso) is accused of murdering his girlfriend Kendall (Clint’s daughter Francesca Eastwood, appearing in flashbacks) on a dark and stormy night after having a few drinks at a bar and getting into an argument. She was found the next morning over the edge of an embankment alongside Old Quarry Road. Her skull was fractured, bones broken, her body twisted. Blunt instrument, angry boyfriend, open and shut, right? The prosecuting attorney, Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette), wagers that winning the case will push her to victory in her run for district attorney, and Sythe’s public defender (Chris Messina) isn’t doing much beyond insisting that the guy wasn’t at the scene of the crime and is therefore innocent.

Now, about our guy Justin. Guess what? He was not only at that very same bar the night Kendall died, but he drove home down Old Quarry Road, hit something with his Forerunner, got out in the pouring rain to assess the damage, assumed he hit a deer and went home. Two and two are coming together, adding up to a whole pile of shit for Justin. Not only that, but he lied to his wife about where he was, because he’s a recovering alcoholic who absolutely shouldn’t have been anywhere near a bar. Justin shares his story in confidence with his AA sponsor, who also happens to be an attorney (Kiefer Sutherland), and warns him that, with his past DUIs on his record, if he comes clean he’s screwed. Of course, the defense’s case is weak and the jurors just want to get outta there soon, so they’re ready to push Sythe into the slammer. But Justin is the only one who wants to deliberate. He doesn’t want to see an innocent man convicted. Nor does he want to abandon the life he reconstructed, and leave Allison to be a single mom for the next few decades. What to do. What to do.  

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Juror #2 is a smart blend of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Rashomon and 12 Angry Men.

Performance Worth Watching: The acting across the board is exemplary, the supporting cast led by typically nuanced and charismatic work from Collette. And Hoult functions as the prototypical Eastwood protagonist, with his plaintive features and emotional directness layered atop a soul in turmoil; it’s clearly one of the highlights of his career, if not his strongest role yet.

Memorable Dialogue: Of course, one of the jurors is a true crime aficionado who wants to share her “experience” amidst a bickering session:

One juror: Your experience is listening to crime podcasts.

True crime lady: Well hold on – and watching Dateline!

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Eastwood executes this material with the ruthless efficiency that seems to only come if you’ve been a true pro in this business for decades. It helps that Jonathan Abrams’ screenplay is the best Eastwood’s worked with in years; it’s rooted deeply in character, creating a high-pressure situation for our protagonist, who has no good solutions to his problem. It’s also layered with complexities: The would-be DA doesn’t want to publicly give fuel to her doubts about the case. A juror played by J.K. Simmons knows sloppy policework when he sees it. The accused, a former gang member with a prominent neck tattoo identifier, has a record, but is willing to not only forego settlement and go to trial, but take the stand. The other jurors see the 10-piece jigsaw puzzle presented to them in court, when it’s more like 1,000. And Justin, who got a second chance after his own troubles, believes Sythe deserves one too, and uses this point as a wedge during deliberations, secretly hoping to sway the other jurors toward a not-guilty verdict, which is the most beneficial result for his secret predicament. But that’s an uphill battle.

Now, I have my doubts as to whether this situation is at all plausible, but never for a moment does it feel like overbaked bend-over-backwards Hollywood hogwash. Eastwood’s no-nonsense approach precludes that for the most part anyway. And it unfolds in a reasonably credible fashion that feels less calculated to be entertaining – although it very much is – and more to explore ideas about justice, redemption and the gray areas of morality and the law, which includes the ever-slippery definition of the phrase “reasonable doubt.” I, however, have little doubt Juror #2 is among the upper echelon of Eastwood’s work as a director, and I hope it’s not one of the final hurrahs for this brand of provocative films for adults. 

Our Call: The old man still has it. STREAM IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.