Customer Reviews

Pelican Brief [VHS]

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(27)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

This review refers to the Warner Bros 1997 DVD edition of "The Pelican Brief".....

"The Pelican Brief" is a poltical thriller that will keep you invovled from beginning to end. It teams legendary Director Alan J Pakula("Klute"/All the President's Men") with equally legendary mystery writer John Grisham("The Firm"/"The Client"). Then add these names into the mix...Denzel Washington, Julia Roberts, Hume Cronyn, Sam Shepard, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and a score by James Horner, and you've got yourself a great recipe for a well made film. And although I did not find it as compelling as "All the President's Men" or as suspenseful as "Klute" or "The Firm", I did find myself, thanks to the great acting, becoming totally involved with the characters and the storyline.

Here's the story...Two Supreme Court Justices have been assassinated. Brillant law student Darby Shaw(Roberts), who has a passion for constitutional law, decides to start do a little investigating of her own concerning the deaths. What she finds is too frightning to even believe. She prepares a brief, that winds up in the hands of government officials, and pretty soon anyone involved winds up in the mourge as well. Darby goes on the run fearing she is next and doesn't know who to trust. The only one she can turn to is investigative reporter Grey Grantham(Washington). The two race to prove her theory as they become the hunted as well.Lots of great action and intrigue keep the story going.

The DVD is very good as far as the quality of the picture and sound. The widescreen presentation, lets you see all the action,the picture is clear and colors bright and sharp.The Dolby surround brings it all right into the room with you. The only problem I had with the DVD was having to turn it over after 1:17 into the film. I did notice though in the technical info that the release date of the DVD is 2/4/03. I have had mine much longer and although it appears to be the same DVD, perhaps they rereleased it. Maybe renting it first would answer that question. Not much in the way of "Bonus Features". There are some production notes, including how the cast prepared for their indivual roles(in which we are assured that Stanley Tucci, who plays an assassin, did not go out and kill anyone!), and there are some previews of other films made by Alan J Pakula.

I would reccommend this film to anyone who is a fan of Grisham, Pakula, Roberts or Washington, or if you just enjoy a good thriller.

Get the popcorn ready and get ready to jump!.....enjoy...Laurie

This is a movie full of intrigue and suspense. Denzel Washington turns in one of his best performances as Gray Grantham. Julia Roberts is equally as exciting as Darby Shaw a Tulane law student. Together they work to expose a criminal conspiracy that involves many high officials that include the White House. When attempts are made on their lives, it becomes a race to see if they can solve the case before they forfeit their lives in pursuit of justice.

The Pelican Brief DVD

The Pelican Brief is based on John Grisham's novelThe Pelican Brief (John Grisham) in which a student (played by Julia Robert's) discovers a plot to assassinate a couple of U. S. Supreme Court Justices so that two less environmentally biased justices can be appointed. Julia Roberts is beautiful as usual and Denzel Washington is superb, also as usual.

Highly recommended for fans of Julia Roberts, Denzel, Washington, and John Grisham.

Gunner February, 2008

Juila Roberts in a great role shows her true acting abilltiy and proves she can hold her own in a serous role. Roberts plays Darby Shaw, a law student who writes a brief concering the mysterious deaths of two supreme court justices and soon is marked for death by hired killers and crooked cops. On the run she trusts no one except one man an ambitous reporter(played to perfection by Denzel Washington)who wants to keep her alive so she can tell her story. Amazing film with the right amount of suspense and intrigue, and what`s so good about this film it managed to rise above the cliches that usually surronds this genre there was absolulty no love angle between the two leads just an innocent woman on the run type of story. Based on the novel by john grisham and probably the best one adapted to the big screen. A little too long 2½ hours long but it reached a staisfying conclusion. The best scene was the On foot chase scene in the underground parking lot. Great movie a must for any Julia Roberts Fan.

The only objection I have to this DVD is that you have to turn it over half way through the movie to see it all!

This is Julia Roberts best suspenseful legal thriller ever!!!! With Denzel Washington their charisma & chemistry are top notch.

In summary Roberts plays a law student in New Orleans who writes a paper ("The Pelican Brief") which theorizes a murder conspiracy involving the White House! Naturally this draws attention to Roberts and proves to be true. An intense manhunt begins. Roberts befriends an investigative reporter (Washington) and the chase & suspense escalates.

This movie & script really shows the depth of Julia Roberts acting ability. So if you want a very entertaining and nail biting movie get "The Pelican Brief" today. You'll watch over and over.

Great story by John Grisham and acting with Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington. It will keep you sitting on the edge of your seat at least until you have to flip the DVD over to finish it. That's right they couldn't fit this on one side for some odd reason. At first I thought something was wrong with my DVD player or the DVD. Only when I took out the DVD and saw Side A and Side B did I realize. They could have at least put a message at the end of Side A for you to turn it over. Otherwise a great DVD. The chase to track down a story about a gangster that conributed to the Presidents campaign fund and how a legal brief ties it together is very well done. I would wait to buy it on DVD when they put Widescreen on one side and Standard on the other rather than have a Side A and B.

I have seen other movies made from John Grisham novels, The Client (1994 ) and The Firm (1993). I would say this is on a par with those movies, and is typical of the mass market "thriller" genre. For me it's like watching TV, or an airline movie: the treatment is predictable, the plot includes a lot of unlikely action morphed out by various CIA, FBI, and other serious types according to the general expectation of the audience on a simplistic level, with some creativity but certainly nothing original. This is a movie for a tired CEO to fall asleep to. Yet it stars Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington with an interesting cast that includes the very talented Sam Shepherd. Alan J. Pakula, who directed and penned the script from Grisham's novel, has a number of important movies to his directorial credit including All the President's Men (1976) and Sophie's Choice (1982), and some as a producer, most notably the celebrated To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). So what happened here?

Just the usual gravitation toward the mean. If you make a movie aimed at a mass audience, what's the point of doing anything they wouldn't appreciate anyway? Roberts and Washington are here for their star power, not because of their considerable acting talent. Yet, perhaps inspired by one another, they both give strong performances that carry the movie and make this definitely worth watching.

Julia Roberts plays a Tulane law student who gets an idea about who assassinated two Supreme Court justices and why, and she writes a brief about it, the "Pelican Brief." We see her deep in the stacks at the library doing research, sporting several hair-dos at a little table under various lighting changes, so that we know its daytime and then night, etc., a clear device about as original as the pages flying off a calender. Tulane law professor Thomas Callahan (Sam Shepherd) is her mentor and bed mate. She's twenty-four and he's about forty, but a girl can learn a lot from such a man and he's warm and loving. Nonetheless we are scratching our head about this match up, especially when he begins drinking heavily (one of the justices was his mentor), and we know now for sure he's not in love. Well, the guy that gets Julia Roberts sure as heck can't be wishy washy about his love for her, we know that.

We are also scratching our head because Denzel Washington, an actor of power and accomplishment, is usually found in more serious venues. He's played Steve Biko, apartheid victim and martyr in Cry Freedom (1987) and Malcolm X in Malcolm X (1992). So what's he doing in this mid-brow flick? He plays a beltway reporter, right out of the annals of the Bernstein and Woodward legend, but there is little real acting for him to do. So why is he here? It's to play opposite Julia Roberts of course!

So what we have here is a very expensive "entertainment" starring two real actors. (I wonder how much money this movie made considering what they had to pay Grisham, Roberts and Washington.) Surely the subplot has to be romantic. How IS Hollywood going to play the racially mixed duo? Inquiring minds want to know. (Hint: with great subtlety.)

Julia is running, since the bad guys are after her. Notice that the plot conveniently gets rid of the "too old for her" guy. Try not to notice the other contrivances, the mysterious guy in the background who appears at exactly the last moment, for example. Just as one of the bad guys is about to blow our Julia away, he somehow blows the hit man away--by the way, getting blood on our girl. (It's enough to mention one plot contrivance per review, unless it's unusually bad, but there are others.) Well, Julia's getting the picture and it's pretty scary. She's on the phone as she's running from hotel to hotel, spending cash instead of using traceable credit cards. She can't trust anybody. Even the president of the United States is suspect, played incidentally with a kind of glee by Robert Culp as though impersonating Ronnie Reagan halfway into his dementia. Strange thing, Julia actually thinks you are supposed to really ACT in a thriller! Denzel knows better, managing a kind of controlled emotion throughout, saying as little as possible, using his eyes and making a lot out of silence, which is something an accomplished actor does when the script doesn't give him sparkling lines. Julia really does look scared, her face rubbery with a mean crease down the middle of her forehead. Watching just her, one could mistake this for an artsy-smartsy "serious" flick. Not to worry. There are some nice explosions and plenty of chases and all sorts of shadowy red herrings lurking about.

Bottom line: If this is your genre, and you've just got to get away from that pile of papers you brought home to work on, go for it. This is standard issue escapist fare, true, but the stars really do shine.

A bright law student scribbles a theory, called the "Pelican Brief", about the assassination of two Supreme Court Justices that hits a bit too close to home. Suddenly, everyone she speaks to ends up dead, while an arrangement of sketchy characters lurk around every corner. Darby Shaw, the young lawyer, tries to outwit everyone and eventually ties her fortunes together with Gray Grantham, a reporter with the Washington Herald.

The movie is a fun legal thriller that will give your heart good exercise. 'Yikes' moments are in plentiful supply, and the colourful characters add a compelling element that keeps you interested and excited.

The acting is well done. Denzel Washington (Gray Grantham) plays his role wonderfully while Julia Roberts (Darby Shaw) sparkles. They both play well off of each other, and there is a chemistry that reaches the audience.

If you like John Grisham's novels, you should see the movies, including this one. Well adapted from the book, the plot line and characters follow the novel honestly, and nothing of lasting significance is taken away in the making of this movie.

"The Pelican Brief" was alright, but it was nowhere near as good as other political conspiracy films. The dialogue was 50/50: half of it was interesting; half just seemed like B.S. Grisham filler material.

I might have liked the movie a little more if it wasn't for that god-awful, nails-on-chalkboard, dramatic music that pops up every ten minutes.

Washington, Lithgow, and Roberts have all done films ten times better than this one, and it seems like they were harvested to salvage a crummy script based on an even crummier book.

But that's just my opinion.