THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TAG: 9604030041
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
``PRIMAL FEAR'' is a whopping-good psychological thriller that will keep you guessing through a series of unlikely, but relentlessly plausible, twists.
Steve Shagan and Ann Biderman's script, based on the bestselling novel by William Diehl, tackles a familiar genre. Every character in ``Primal Fear'' is flawed. To varying degrees, they are greedy, manipulative and capable of betrayal.
The archbishop of Chicago has been murdered in his bedroom. A naive altar boy is seen running from the room with blood splattered on his clothes. Since the murdered man is one of the most loved men in Chicago, the case whips the city into a frenzy. The evidence leaves little apparent doubt as to the boy's guilt.
In a star-making role that steals the film, Edward Norton is Aaron Stampler, the accused youngster. He's a naive, stuttering country boy from Kentucky with a baby face that his defense lawyer loves to trot out for the jury to watch. The archbishop saved the boy from the streets by giving him a job in the church.
Richard Gere, who is adept at portraying handsome arrogance, has his perfect role in the part of the vain, preening and aggressive defense lawyer, Martin Vail, a showboating type to whom winning is everything. Vail doesn't care whether the boy is innocent or guilty. He just wants to win the case, and do it with a flourish that will call attention to himself.
The opposing lawyer is his former lover, a chic career woman who is a novice at the game. She is played by fast-rising Laura Linney, who was in the unexplainable hit ``Congo'' last summer. Here, she has a cool, smart Grace Kelly look that she uses to good advantage.
The supporting cast is uniformly impressive. Alfre Woodard is a no-nonsense judge who won't tolerate Gere's showboating. John Mahoney, the veteran character actor now on the TV series ``Frasier,'' is the state's attorney who was a good friend of the murdered man. Frances McDormand, currently starring in the excellent dark comedy ``Fargo,'' plays a psychiatrist hired by Gere to figure out the accused boy.
There are weak legal moments, such as Gere's advising his client during interrogation on the stand, but we can suspend just a bit of disbelief in return for a rather plausible melodrama peppered with many revelations before the surprise ending.
Surprisingly, first-time director Gregory Hoblit holds all these melodramatics together in a forward-moving style that keeps us interested but never quite gives us time to question.
``Primal Fear,'' which is an unfortunately sensational title that means nothing, attempts to be a courtroom drama, a suspense thriller and a psychological study all at once. It is most successful in its psychological vein. It gives its audience ample room to speculate.
It's one of the best in its genre since ``Witness for the Prosecution.'' MEMO: MOVIE REVIEW
``Primal Fear''
Cast: Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Edward Norton, John Mahoney, Alfre
Woodard
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Screenplay: Steve Shagan and Ann Biderman, based on the novel by
William Diehl
MPAA rating: R (language, recreation of a porn tape)
Mal's rating: three and a half stars
Locations: Cinemark, Greenbrier in Chesapeake; Janaf, Main Gate in
Norfolk; Commodore in Portsmouth; Columbus, Kemps River, Lynnhaven 8,
Surf-N-Sand in Virginia Beach by CNB