Juror #2 (2024)

Clint Eastwood's latest (and potentially last) film has only been given a limited release, with some speculating that it's down to the director's political leanings.

Quite apart from the fact that it's a very good piece of work, this is insanity in the sense that no-one's political opinion should have anything to do with their film's release, or indeed reviews.

Speculation is speculation though, so I'll leave it there.

Juror #2 is Eastwood's 40th film behind the camera, and the fact that he's now ninety-four is the only real reason it might be his last- the man shows no sign of slowing down. His career doesn't need further dissecting, either as an actor or director, but he is without doubt one of the most consistent and solid directors still working. Since 2000, he's made nineteen films- an astonishing output by anyone's standards- but I would argue what's most impressive about that is that seventeen of them, in my opinion, have been at the very least thoroughly decent. Two of them (Gran Torino and Changeling [both 2008]) are borderline masterpieces, and only two of them I would count as duds (15:17 To Paris [2018] and Cry Macho [2021]) and even those had things to like about them.

And it should also be noted that that time period also took in the ambitious double bill of Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima (both 2006), two films about the Battle for Iwo Jima during World War II; each told from opposing sides of the battle.

Juror #2 is essentially a courtroom drama; one which centers on the apparent murder of a young woman, and her boyfriend in the dock charged with the homicide. Nicholas Hoult is Justin Kemp, a recovering alcoholic, father to be, and happily married, who is chosen for jury service for the trial; a trial in which Toni Collette is the prosecutor, the first time the pair of them have been so front and center together since 2002's About a Boy.

What we don't realise- and initially neither does Kemp- is that he'd be more suited to the role of suspect in this trial following early revelations. This is no plot spoiler; indeed more than that becomes clear in the opening scenes of the film, but to go into this film blind makes things a lot more tense. That's not to say you lose anything by having seen the trailers or reading the plot. Eastwood's films over the last decade have been unfussy, generally around ninety minutes long, and direct- he's well known for his directing style of not wanting to spend time on more than a couple of takes- he achieves the shot he wants very quickly. As a result, he also deserves credit for drawing performances from his actors, and here he gets a very good one from Hoult here, whilst Collette is her usual brilliant self. J.K Simmons also provides a small but suitably effective role, and Kiefer Sutherland appears for a brief but efficient cameo.

In fact, efficient is the word that has arguably been used most in relation to Eastwood (if we're strictly talking about his career-which we should be here). The Mule (2018) was considered one of his lesser films but was hugely enjoyable and almost inexplicably efficient, Richard Jewell (2019) told its story briskly but solidly, and something like Sully (2016) was an expert telling of a true life event told in almost astonishingly low-key fashion.

All of these Eastwood vehicles mentioned above are flawed, but all are examples of what a fine film maker Eastwood is, and further proof of the type of director he has become the older he's got. He wants to make his films quickly but effectively- he knows as well as we do that he can't go on forever. He clearly loves what he does, and what we have with Juror #2, over fifty years since his directorial debut (Play Misty for Me [1971]), is the ultimate latter day Eastwood vehicle. The proficiency of Juror #2 in terms of Eastwood's more recent film making is almost staggering, and if you're au fait with that recent body of film making, you'll revel in every single piece of the film being as tight, and -you guessed it- efficient, as it is. If you want something that's guaranteed to be well made, well put together, and, well, just damn engaging- no-one does it better.

Keep going Clint, because I couldn't care less about your political views- and it will be one of cinema's saddest days when you finally put down your camera. 8.0/10