THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 3, 1995 TAG: 9503030043
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BRENT A. BOWLES, TEENOLOGY MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
HE IS WITHOUT a doubt one of the finest actors alive and one of the few that can carry a script, no matter how ludicrous or dismal, on acting merit alone. That is exactly what Sean Connery has to do with ``Just Cause.'' The thriller, based on a novel by John Katzenbach, treads dangerously close to John Grisham territory with plot holes so big you can drive a Louisiana shrimp boat through them.
As lawyer-turned-Harvard-professor, Connery dominates the screen with a grace and power like no other actor can. His character is one-dimensional, the naive fish in crocodile country who leaves his cushy lecture hall to vindicate a criminal convicted of raping and murdering a 12-year-old girl.
The criminal is superbly portrayed by Blair Underwood, but is so shallow that sympathy is impossible for the actor and the character. This character's believability factor works surprisingly well, but the sympathy factor later becomes unnecessary.
The silliness threshold is pressed even further by the injection of a small town cop played effortlessly by Laurence Fishburne. He beats Underwood with a phone book, plays Russian roulette with a six-shooter and then becomes a good guy. I think I hear that shrimp boat.
Then along comes Kate Capshaw, a k a Mrs. Steven Spielberg, sporting a really bad haircut, as Connery's wife. Capshaw simply doesn't fit the part.
Besides packing more cliches than the CBS prime-time lineup, ``Just Cause'' doesn't work. The script is clearly divided between its two writers. Easy to spot are those scenes written by Jeb Stuart, who penned ``The Fugitive'' among other great action movies; his scenes are concisely written, with biting dialogue and superb tension. The scenes by Peter Stone, however, just don't work, especially the anything-but-tense car chase scene and the spontaneous uses of excessive profanity.
``Just Cause'' reeks of John Grisham, with scenes echoing ``A Time to Kill'' and ``The Chamber.'' The plot's most blatant mimicry comes in the casting of Ed Harris (who is nonetheless absolutely riveting in his best performance since ``The Abyss'') as a Death Row psycho who leads Connery to the solution. Paging Anthony Hopkins.
``Just Cause'' is one of those films one goes to just to see the actors. Connery and Harris prove that when you put two good actors in a room, it doesn't matter how abysmally bad the dialogue gets. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Kate Capshaw and Sean Connery star in the suspense thriller ``Just
Cause.''
Brent Bowles is a 1994 graduate of Princess Anne.
by CNB