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The Pelican Brief (1993)

Rate: 9
Viewed: 5/04, 7/08, 4/26

PelicanBrief
7/08: The second novel-to-film adaptation of John Grisham's career, The Pelican Brief is a fun, thrilling conspiracy picture, beating the pants off Conspiracy Theory by a mile.

Alan J. Pakula is the perfect director. Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington are rightfully cast, and they both have great chemistry, making the film work.

It helps a lot to have a good story that's packed with plenty of substance to keep me interested for two hours and twenty-one minutes. That's the main strength of John Grisham's early books. Interestingly, it doesn't have visible enemies as there are a bunch of shadows lurking around.

All in all, John Grisham wrote entertaining novels, yet it's rare for them to turn out well on screen like The Pelican Brief.

4/26: The Pelican Brief is Sleeping with the Enemy meets All the President's Men.

I thought about giving the film a '10', but it got silly in the final half hour. Plus Julia Roberts' semi-comatose performance doesn't help. Denzel Washington is too good, saving the show big time. Where it goes completely wrong is he starting the car but the bomb doesn't blow. Then, they run away from it, and the bomb still doesn't blow. Later, another car is chasing them and conveniently hits the other one, finally blowing it up. Also, using Nicholas Woodeson over and over is a mistake. I think Stanley Tucci as the professional assassin could've been used longer.

Nevertheless, the story is quite unusual by John Grisham's standards, making for the most complicated of his career. Alan J. Pakula is the perfect choice as a director because of what he did with All the President's Men and The Parallax View. The Pelican Brief isn't about the mystery but rather a confirmation of Darby Shaw's theory. Once Gray Grantham got it, that's the end. Throughout, Stephen Goldblatt's cinematography is very striking.

All in all, The Pelican Brief is among John Grisham's top two films ever with the other being The Gingerbread Man.