“Is the truth always justice?” inquires a taciturn Nicholas Hoult in Clint Eastwood’s latest film, Juror #2. This prescient question lies at the heart of Eastwood’s new work, a courtroom drama and character study that is his best in over a decade, pondering a deep moral dilemma of Dostoyevskian proportions.
Hoult plays Justin Kemp, a recovering alcoholic with a pregnant wife due any day now. His life seems back on track when he’s summoned for jury duty.
The case appears straightforward: James Sythe, a former gang member played by Gabriel Basso, who portrayed Vice President-elect J.D. Vance in the Hillbilly Elegy adaptation, is on trial for the murder of his girlfriend. The prosecution paints Sythe as a violent offender who, after an argument at a bar, allegedly followed his girlfriend into the night and killed her. The evidence is flimsy, yet the jury is nearly…
