True Justice: Family Ties

True Justice: Family Ties was a little different for Hallmark. It's still a murder mystery but with a larger cast working to prove that the brother of the lead actress is innocent. This movie takes you into the criminal justice system. The cast is made up of newcomers to Hallmark along with two of my favorite regulars - Nikki DeLoach and Benjamin Ayres. DeLoach and her writing partner, Megan McNulty, did a good job with a script that provide twists and turns to keep you guessing. I liked the fact that the writers didn't throw in a gay couple that didn't fit in with the story as Hallmark has had a tendency to do. Hopefully, True Justice will become a regular series.

I was about to give up on this movie about 20 minutes into it. Luckily the Liam character joined and provided a much need lift to the cast.

The lead actress and actor who played Casey and Eli were so bad in the opening of the movie that I couldn't take it. No emotion, inappropriate smirking and unbelievably bad delivery of lines. How did they even get the roles?

The rest of the cast was okay, but the movie would have benefited from more screen time from the Hallmark veteran actors.

Like I said, once the actor who played Liam came on screen I enjoyed the movie more. However the plot was weak and the killer of the woman found in the alley was totally unbelievable.

Is anyone besides me bothered by the brother stealing a necklace off of a fresh corpse?

I try to be very kind when reviewing new mystery series on Hallmark because I would like to encourage them to have new mystery content. Having said that I had several issues with True justice. The whole brother character seemed unnecessary, you would think her investigating the murder of her friend would be enough of a motivation for our main character. So many illegal things...the police turning over evidence/personal effects to a boyfriend? A crime lab intern using the crime lab to run trace evidence...not to mention the issue of chain of custody for a conviction of the real killer?!?!? Lots of issues.

I loved seeing both Nikki Deloach as the main character's law professor and Benjamin Ayres as the D. A. It was kind of cool to have them in a relationship...but I wish they had played a bigger role in this film. They were almost so peripheral as to be superfluous to the story. The character of Liam, a rogue investigator, was the most interesting character in the show. I liked the idea of having a group of young students solving crime...but the script needs to be tighter and their roles need to be more well defined (aka what they each bring to the table skill-wise). The intern at the crime lab (as an actual 30 year lab employee with good friends and colleagues working in actual crime labs) would never be able to run random samples whenever they wanted. Testing is highly controlled and regulated. I think they could have benefited from some consultants. Also, there is no motivation for people to talk to these kids...so I don't know why they would.

I would probably watch another one just to give it another chance...but it is definitely not on my recommendation list yet and it has a long way to go to break into my top three Hallmark mystery series (Hannah Swensen, Aurora Teagarden (the original), and Mystery 101).

I thought this had potential and the cast likeable enough. There were issues for me.

The first was that the brother of. McNamara's character, Casey, turns out to be pointless and unnecessary. Pay attention to when the girls first start to discuss his case in order to prove him innocent or you might miss why he took the victim's necklace. However, it's all a fake setup to give McNamara a reason to pursue her brother's innocence when they could have simply had her find out about the death of a friend who had become estranged from her. The brother, played by. Sam Ashe Arnold, contributes nothing of importance otherwise and the background story him and Casey seemed like an afterthought to fill out the script and screen time when they need not have bothered..

I thought McNamara was fine, but her cry face is not pretty and the bleached blonde hair was actually a distraction.

The attempt to pair the character of Liam with Sarah seemed an odd choice when PJ might have made more sense, but it's fine. However, it never really went anywhere unless it is to be followed up on in a sequel.

There is a peculiar goof when the gang first meets Liam in that McNamara is shown wearing a top.beneath her jacket that in the next two shots seems to turn into something with a plunging neckline then back to the more full covered top again. It's nothing to get excited about - it's Hallmark..

I do not believe there was any mention of getting justice for a second victim killed sometime before the main one in this story i.e. Reopening her case.

I will leave any other legal technicalities to others as regards these intern characters and their obtaining evidence plus the handling of it all being correct or not - probably not.

Finally, Hallmark seems to be having cameos of their so-called stars in movies mainly starring others. It can be clever, even cute to some, but Deloach.and Ayres could have had their supporting - guest - roles given to some actors who could have used the work more than they and be more believable as genuine characters in this story. It could also be that Hallmark did not trust the main cast to attract viewers, so they cast these two to do so, which is kind of sad that they would need to rely on these over-exposed channel regulars to do anything new and different.

You know, I understand that Hallmark Mystery Movies aren't exactly realistic. I mean seriously, how often does a librarian, an English professor or an antiques dealer really solve homicides before a seasoned detective? LOL Not often & I'm okay with that, however, True Justice took unrealistic past improbable & made it laughable!

There are so many factual errors on court proceeding & evidence handling here, there are simply too many to name. The writers should really do a little research on court trials, sentencing etc... It's obvious they have no idea how a trial is arranged & regulated.

Also, any evidence Casey or her friends touched would be (at best) viewed with extreme suspicion & would not be readily accepted as fact. Or, & this is the most likely scenario, all the evidence gathered would be deemed tainted due to her relationship to the defendant & ruled inadmissible.

The whole scenario was ridiculous & the acting by most of the cast was sorely lacking. I enjoyed Benjamin Ayres as DA Quinn & Nikki De Loach as Professor Ambrose, but their roles were too small to save this movie.

I wish Hallmark would rethink its decision to get rid of entertaining series like Mystery 101 in favor of a sub-par series like True Justice. I don't like to bash, but i can promise you the ratings will show the audience's dissatisfaction soon enough. In fact, if you look at the reviews & ratings, they are already speaking it loud & clear.