Juror #2 (2024)

Juror #2 (2024) is directed by Clint Eastwood, an actor known for not being too articulate when he speaks, but is apparently better appreciated as a director. In that respect, he has nothing to prove, with the incredible Gran Torino (2008), Million Dollar Baby (2004), and Mystic River (2003) to name but a few. This film is, of course, like almost everything else Eastwood does, top-notch. And what a cast!

Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, Leslie Bibb, and Kiefer Sutherland! What a delight. Zoey Deutch is great too, but I didn’t really know her.

Yes, I loved this film! I always feel a certain amount of pain and anxiety when I have to watch a long film. I’m always worried that I’ll be bored, that I’ll miss something important, that I won’t understand anything, or that I’ll just be wasting my time. But none of that happened here. The characters are interesting, touching, and relevant. The dialogue is fascinating. The flashbacks are not heavy and do not spoil the film. The story is more than interesting because there are all those moments when I wondered what I would do in their place. I tried to guess all the possible outcomes. Of course, you can simply guess the ending in a futile way, but you still have to find the path that leads to it. It’s one thing to boast that you can always guess the ending in advance, but it’s quite another to appreciate all the details of a film.

I found the colour of the film, the glances, the silences, the debates, the arguments, and the humour incredible. This film answered a lot of my questions about the American Jury. For the points I still had doubts about, I asked my girlfriend. Clint Eastwood never disappoints. I have immense and profound respect for this artist who puts so many beautiful values into his work.