Review of Primal Fear (1996) by Michael Y — 08 Jul 2011

What begins like your classic court room drama becomes much more deeper and darker. Primal Fear has a great cast that looks into the heart of humanity and exposes an unkind and conflicting perspective.

Richard Gere stars as superstar lawyer (damn, this guy plays a lawyer in, like, every other movie he's in. But damn is he good) Martin Vail who takes on a very risky case. A priest has been brutally murdered and a shy Kentucky alterboy, Aaron, is found running from the scene covered in the priest's blood. Vail doesn't care if his clients are guilty or not, and he doesn't want to know, but his sympathy for Aaron conflicts with his professionalism. Primal Fear is a great story that keeps on giving. It doesn't start out with much, besides Richard Gere's lovable charm and the murder, but what appears to be a regular "did he do it or not" mystery/courtroom drama eventually twists into themes of defining innocence, secret intentions, useing people for one's own advantage and trust. As a matter of fact, that's what humanity's 'primal fear' is; to fully trust someone only to have them hurt you.

Primal Fear really is a different kind of crime movie and a great courtroom drama story, but if only it didn't look like your average crime movie. The battle between lawyers is an interesting angle, but the directing lacks original flare. It's presentation may lead first time audiences off into thinking this is a kind of movie they've seen before. And the build up of the conflicting drama isn't very climactic. Though it doesn't have a lot of style, it sure looks regal enough. The sets look casual and realistic. Nothing too fancy, but that gives a good regal flavour to the movie. As a matter of fact this movie looks underproduced. It's sets and locations aren't the most flashiest or memorable. The courtroom scenes don't have much build either, but they do have their moments. But I don't want to give off that this movie is a failure by any means. Primal Fear IS done very well and has some great moments presented very well. And the weird Spanish song "Canção Do Mar" used as the movie's theme is a unique detail.

Primal Fear is definitely not your average courtroom drama. Especially when it presents an INCREDIBLE performance from Edward Norton in his debut role. (which earned his an Oscar nomination. PRETTY FUCKING GOOD for one's first movie role) Primal Fear might have a slow lead up, but its climax is definitely a rewarding movie experience.