Sean Connery is hands-down one of the best actors in the business. Watching him work so effortlessly, yet hitting every nuance and pulling the audience into the story, is poetry in motion. Besides starring as the original James Bond, he's played in dozens of movies, portraying serious roles as well as comic relief. Lawrence Fishburne, Tanny Brown in the movie, is known to most fans as Morpheus in THE MATRIX, but he's done several crime thrillers in addtion to this one, including ALWAYS OUTNUMBERED, HOODLUM, FLED, and DEEP COVER. Ed Harris, who starred in THE ABYSS and THE ROCK, plays deranged serial killer Blair Sullivan. Blair Underwood, L. A. LAW and DEEP IMPACT, plays Bobby Earl.

JUST CAUSE, based on the novel by John Katzenbach, is a slick, speeding bullet of a movie. The pacing is dynamically charged, and the plot twist reveals are staged to set the viewer up for senses-shattering one-two deliveries. The thriller fan will see some of the twists coming, but others will come out of left field yet maintain perfect sense. The ones that are seen coming bring the stomach-turning anxiety of watching a car wreck in motion and being unable to look away. Every character in the movie outside of Paul Armstrong has hidden depths and agendas of his and her own that play out against the main plot. Sean Connery, as always, delivers an outstanding performance. Fishburne leaves the impression that he could have been Tanny Brown had life gone differently for him. Blair Underwood plays Bobby Earl to a T, coming across as a guy who's just been unlucky in life. But the biggest gut-churning experience of the film is Ed Harris' portrayal of Blair Sullivan, which guarantees some uneasy moments long after the movie is over.

The only real fault in the movie is the recovery of the missing murder weapon after eight years. Armstrong looks for the knife himself after Tanny Brown tells him he's on a wild goose chase. Yet Tanny comes with him and they ultimately recover the blade. Instead of calling in a crime scene investigation, as most viewers know would have to be done, Tanny takes the weapon into custody himself. Also, follow up DNA work would have been nice to see, to further confirm the evidence. With all the DVD packaging that's coming out these days, behind-the-scenes featurettes or interviews with Connery or the other actors would have been a natural. DVD fans have come to expect these things and not having them on JUST CAUSE was a bit of a disappointment.

JUST CAUSE is a fabulous movie and a definite must for thriller fans. The addition of Sean Connery and the sterling performance by Ed Harris are icing on the cake. Anyone who enjoyed SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, L. A. CONFIDENTIAL, or THE USUAL SUSPECTS will also enjoy this DVD.