Review of Conviction (2010) by Glen W — 25 May 2012

The criminal trial is so bunk that the movie's narrative loses credibility. So the movie is obviously intended to be a character piece rather than a procedural exposition. But with everything riding on the characters, the movie doesn't pull it off.

The brother-sister relationship here is mostly melodramatic and occasionally pitch-perfect. In a movie like this (especially with the title's obvious double entendre), it's better to dial it down a bit. Early on, the movie spends a lot of time trying to justify to the audience ~why~ she's a relentless crusader, so it comes off as desperately wanting you to accept how close the brother and sister are. Don't bother doing that. Just proceed as if it's a foregone conclusion (as the latter half of the movie does) and the sister's conviction will stand out better.

Hilary Swank turned in an unfortunately average performance (average actor's performance = substandard Swank performance). Melissa Leo confirmed my theory that she didn't win the Oscar for acting but rather for being herself. Sam Rockwell's performance avoided cliche.

The movie does a good job of illustrating how our ideas about criminal justice are actually just class warfare put into law. The success of that theme is largely because of Sam Rockwell.