Presumed Innocent: Critic Reviews

Mr. Ford, who comes alive in the flashbacks recalling his tempestuous affair with Carolyn, spends much of the film with a wary, cautious expression masking all other emotions. He does this with flawless delicacy...

A solid whodunit.

Competent, resolutely unflashy.

The adaptation of Turow's novel does a good job of presenting the evidence as needed, and no more than is needed, while allowing time for the characters to establish themselves.

Honed to a riveting intensity by director Alan Pakula and featuring the tightest script imaginable, Presumed Innocent is a demanding, disturbing javelin of a courtroom murder mystery.

An engrossing adult drama that relies on complex characterizations and twisty plotting, and doesn't ask us to accept its central character as a superman.

Ford -- breaking again from his Indiana Jones heroics -- is astonishingly fine in a performance of controlled intensity.

I mean, honestly. Sabich torching his marriage and career makes perfect sense opposite a full-court-press from the likes of Greta Scacchi. Pakula was no fool.

As moody mysteries go, the courtroom drama Presumed Innocent is among the moodiest. [Blu-ray]

No masterpiece, but it has a certain snappiness to it that is entertaining, at least.

In a welcome return to suspense, Pakula effectively conveys the claustrophobia of domesticity and courtroom procedure.

Solid courtroom melodrama from the Scott Turow novel

Excellent courtroom drama.

First-class thriller -- even though my role was cut out of it!

So good you'll wonder why John Grisham gets all the cinematic adaptations and not Scott Turow.