Review of The Client (1994) by Harry W — 02 May 2013

The Client was a surprisingly great quality thriller and courtroom drama with skilled handling of it's plot and source novel and great cast.

The story is a simple one in terms of the courtroom things so the audience doesn't have to work too hard to keep up with the story, and the thriller themes are done really well and are pulled off convincingly with sophistication even though it seems like a little kid playing "catch me if you can" with thugs out to kill him. It was surprising how well it was done, and so The Client features some of Joel Schumacher's finest work after Falling Down before his career tumbled thanks to the destruction of the Batman series. Still, it's undoubtable he is a talented director.

Brad Renfro makes a surprisingly excellent lead and his charisma and line delivery is perfect and actually convince you he's a skilled villain-evader in scenes such as when he's on the run in the hospital, and he balanced it with young comedic charm such as when he orders 20 pizzas to the police station. And yet, he can barely be judged based on his skills as a juvenile actor because in the scene where he first has a heart-to-heart conversation with Susan Sarandon, we don't witness a child reaching out to help a suffering mother, we see two humans, and Brad Renfro's childish charm doesn't get lost amongst the performance but he gives an amazingly mature performance worth at bare least a Golden Globe nomination. He's the memorable thing about The Client.

Of course, next to him is the reason I watched The Client on the first place: for the acting skills of the impeccable and always marvellous Susan Sarandon. Known for being skilled at portraying sweet and caring characters, she transfers this into the role of a determined lawyer and so we see a whole new level to her in a performance deserving of an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. She was great in The Client.

And lastly, Tommy Lee Jones who is skilled at portraying villains as seen in such films as Under Siege, transfers that skill into a district attorney role, similar to what Susan Sarandon did, but this time to support her character and to give her one to show off her chemistry with and create an entertaining conflict with. Tommy Lee Jones portrays his anti-hero character with sophistication and skill which dives into his character mind well, as to add successful drama to the story, and it works thanks to his performance.

So The Client was a great film, mainly due to Brad Renfro and Susan Sarandon, and it's a simple story with simple thrills that make it easy to watch and entertaining too.