The Jury

The shame is that the first user comment anyone sees when reviewing The Jury is "Political Correctness (ya-aawwwn)", a review, if it can be called that, that more reflects someone with a beef taking a Political Science course and needing to use all the big words they learned to show how smart they are. While we all have the right to voice our opinion, I strongly feel this right should not prejudice the reader (or stop them, as it will some) before they see reviews that are more valuable. Any review that has one yes against multiple no's should be at the bottom of the review list.

Be that as it may, I have come to the Gerard Butler scene late (January, 2006) and because his acting ability struck me immediately and I'm interested in his progress (and why I hadn't heard of him until now), I've been watching his work. Doing that, I've come across some great movies (and a few that weren't so great). The Jury is in the great category.

I'm not going to describe the film, others have done so but I do want to note that the characters lives were well depicted. The frequent use of closeups made me feel like I was standing right next to each person, seeing what he or she saw, feeling what he or she felt. It was an awesome experience. I only buy a video/DVD if it has meaning and makes me feel something, hence I only have about 75 and this is over the past 20 years. I bought The Jury.

I set out to watch this 6 hour British mini series for one reason: I'm a huge fan of Gerard Butler's. I came away amazed at how really good I thought it was. The mini-series deals with the trial of a Sikh student accused of brutally killing a fellow student (and compelling evidence both for and against). And while it does indeed explore the trial itself, the beauty of this series is the exploration of the jurors and their lives (something rarely done). It takes 7 of the 12 jurors and shows what is going on in their lives (and by proxy, what their lives the last several years must have been like). You have the alcoholic just out of rehab the first morning of the trial (Butler), the single mother with her own "mom" issues, the seminary student torn between his love of God and his love of a woman, the old Catholic woman who is clearly lonely, the man who had lost his fortune a while back and is no longer financially well-off, the woman who is controlled by her ex-military and semi-crippled husband and last the responsible citizen who is pleased and overwhelmed at the duty placed on him (and who has the most clueless in-laws). You have the not-so-nice prosecutor (played admirably by Antony Sher) and the decent defense barrister (played well as always by Derek Jacobi). Almost all the characters are to some degree stereotypes, but it is how the actors portray them and the way they are written--the way these stories unfold--that is so special. These performances are just truly wonderful (notably Butler and the actors portraying the abused wife, the single mom and the duty bound juror) The ultimate outcome of the trial, while important, takes second place to the jurors' outcome and the central question: how difficult is it to reach a decision on guilt or innocence when you can NEVER really know?

I'm American and have been watching British drama for the past couple of years. I now prefer the more realistic productions than all the glitz and glamour of newer American shows.

We usually have no insight before starting a a series which was the case with The Jury. To keep it short and sweet, the production, the characters and the story were all well done. Each character had a unique story line and the whole series was easy to follow.

But one of the strongest compliments I can give the show was how the ending wrapped things up nice and clean. No uncertain twists that make you question the outcome. WATCH IT.

Never have you seen such as Gerard Butler portraying Johnny in this film "The Jury". You feel a part of what the character is going through, his turmoil and struggle with being a recovering alcoholic. Gerards performance touched you in ways you could not imagine. Your heart felt for this man and his demons. Mr. Butler was captivating when he performed the scene in which he found out his love interest, Rose was married. You where so awe struck by his pain you could not help but cry for him. This was probably one of the best performances I have ever scene an actor do in any film. If this is what we seen what is there coming? I eagerly wait for Mr. Butler to dazzle us all. Butphan

I really enjoyed this 5-part drama.

Not only is it an engrossing and well made drama, it also makes you think about the rights and wrongs of the British jury system.

The story is quite simple: it is about the retrial of a previously-convicted multiple murder, and focuses mainly on the people who have been selected to be the jury, offering up things about some of the jurors that seriously make you think about whether or not random selection from the general public is the best way to go about selecting a jury for such an important case.

The backdrop for the entire series is an ongoing political debate as to whether trial by jury is a good system or should be replaces.

Interesting stuff, and entertaining too.