Review of Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009) by Nikolayg — 23 Jan 2016

After I saw Michael Douglas in the movie, A Perfect Murder (which you can rent from Amazon.com as a download, but otherwise isn't available for download or streaming), which is a very good thriller, I wanted to see Michael Douglas in any other thriller I could.

So I rented Beyond A Reasonable Doubt, which is a solid if average thriller, except for two things. First, there's just not enough Michael Douglas. I don't know why movie studios think we don't want to continue to watch our beloved stars as they age. He's still Michael Douglas and he's still excellent. The second problem is, they throw in an absurd double backflip of a twist in the final scene that is so unbelievable you just have to pretend it never happened. There was a period from about 2005 until just a couple of years ago, when every thriller had to throw in a ridiculous extra super twist at the very end. They always ruined the story but thankfully these days they don't seem to be doing that anymore. Beyond A Reasonable Doubt fell right smack dab in the midst of that silly trend.

Basically, the plot (without giving away more than a trailer would) is about a journalist who has a hunch that a successful prosecutor is planting DNA evidence in every case he tries, to win a conviction, and the journalist sets out to prove it. Michael Douglas is the evil DA. It's a fair rental, but if you haven't seen A Perfect Murder yet, rent that first. It's a lot better.