The Chamber (1996)

Very best movie i ever watch

Film Perfection

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Gene Hackman does everything but shout "I want to live!' in this indictment of the death penalty, of the gas chamber, of hatred and bigotry, of loyalty to disreputable people, of grandstanding politicians and judges, of family shame and secrets...the list goes on and on. Film begins with a 1967 hate-crime down south attributed to a Klansman, charged with the bomb blast that killed two Jewish boys and maimed their father. Fast-forward 30 years: that Klansman, now aged and set to be executed in the Mississippi State Penitentiary in 28 days, is represented on appeal by the grandson he's never met, a young but not incompetent attorney who figures he's his grandfather's only hope. (Family loyalty gets the green light here, though the reasoning behind the kid's pursuit of this case is tenuous at best. Fans of novelist John Grisham may say "the young man's motivation is clear, to heal family wounds and to mitigate his secret shame," but that only works for a book jacket; on the screen, with N-words exploding and hate-speech spewing out of the one lively character, it's another matter.) When Chris O'Donnell is at the jail, being led down hallways and through locked doors to meet racist, grizzled old Gene Hackman--sharper and saltier than the other Death Row inmates we see--one is apt to get "Silence of the Lambs" déjà vu. Indeed, Hackman is a vile cuss who distrusts everybody, but as the drama unfolds--wherein the attorney and his grandfather learn to work together--one has to wonder if this is meant to be the heart of the material or is there something else lying in wait to surprise us. Are we supposed to be sympathetic towards Hackman's poisonous, hate-filled Sam Cayhall just because he's revealed to have a conscience deep down? Or that he didn't work alone? William Goldman and Chris Reese (a pseudonym for Phil Alden Robinson) adapted Grisham's book, and I'm guessing they weren't clear on how much redemption Sam Cayhall should be shown. It's a movie full of muddled logic, nondescript performances (save for Hackman and an overacting Faye Dunaway as Hackman's daughter) and credibility issues right from the get-go. *1/2 from ****

I found myself thinking in bullet points so here it is:1.Gene Hackman gives a solid performance, the rest of the cast are competent but the Adam Hall character could do with a better actor - less mechanical, more believable with a broader range of emotion. 2.An interesting story although it never really grabbed me and there are better ways to spend ninety minutes. 3.I'm sure the book reads well and the movie might well have been more watchable if Nicholson and Pitt hadn't withdrawn. 4.This is an old theme and if you've seen the theme before it reduces the entertainment value of the film. 5. The technology of the day should means that you shouldn't have to strain to hear the actors' mumbling, but you do - and no, it's not my hearing, age or TV to blame, I watch a lot of films.All in all, disappointing, sadly.

Not your typical law drama. It's about a rookie attorney trying to keep his KKK grandfather off the death penalty for killing a civil rights lawyer's kids.It's an interesting take on redemption as the lawyer tries to find a glimmer of light in a dark man and the ultimate underdog story as he represents a man who is without a doubt guilty and dislikedGene Hackman's performance is steady and though Hackman himself can play a likable villain like he did in the Superman movies, the character he played is hard to like which is exactly what you want. Chris O'Donnell did well, in this starring vehicle as a young rookie lawyer, who trying to grasp at his family history and finding it difficult. It was a good political law drama, that came out in a sea of good political law dramas, and though O'Donnell was at his most dashing and popular (a year after Batman & Robin) and Hackman was also around his peak, I think this movie got lost when you have to go up against Matthew McConaughey in A time to kill and following Denzel in the pelican brief and Cruse in A few good men.Which is sad because this movie was very intelligent and acted well be all involved especially O'Donnell and Hackman who had some interesting interactions in the film. Plus, a shout out to Bo Jackson who did some acting in the movie as well. Give it a shoot.

Spoilers.This is a wholly unremarkable, but also inoffensive, adaptation of a John Grisham novel that serves only to make me believe I haven't really missed a lot by never reading any of the good Mr. Grisham's work. The plot follows a familiar template for the legal thriller: the dynamic young lawyer taking on a lost cause (for whatever reason), the unsympathetic villain languishing on death row, the increasingly desperate legal measures taken by the lawyer to win the day, the behind-the-scenes political intrigues that assure as many obstacles as possible are put in the lawyer's way. Usually, the prisoner receives a last minute reprieve, but not in this case; here we join racist redneck Gene Hackman in his last few moments as he is strapped into the eponymous chamber and struggles to hold his breath while the poisonous gas swirls invisibly around him. Foam issues from his mouth as the gas takes effect, and you wonder why you had to see that. The only reason I can think of is because the film was made one year after Dead Man Walking.Gene Hackman is as good as you'd expect him to be; he must be one – if not the – greatest actors of his generation, and he makes young Chris O'Donnell look wholly insipid. To be fair to O'Donnell, there isn't that much in his character to grab hold of – the only characteristic he has is the desire to see his grandpappy saved from the chamber. And when the poor lad isn't being acted off the screen by Hackman he has to contend with Faye Dunaway giving one of the better performances of her later career as Hackman's alcoholic daughter, who is haunted by the mistaken belief that she may have prevented a murder she witnessed as a child had she not chosen to remain silent at the fateful moment.The Chamber isn't a classic by any measure, but it's probably better than its rating on this site might lead you to believe, although judging by some of the comments you might enjoy it more if you haven't read the book on which it is based.