Presumed Innocent

Based on the book by Scott Turow, Presumed Innocent follows prosecutor Rusty Sabich (Harrison Ford) as he’s tasked with heading up an investigation into the murder of colleague (and one-time romantic interest) Carolyn Polhemus (Greta Scacchi) – with complications ensuing after Rusty himself is eventually arrested and put on trial for the killing. Filmmaker Alan J. Pakula, working from a script written with Frank Pierson, delivers a slow-moving legal drama that suffers from many of the same issues that plagued the source material, as both the movie and the novel suffer from an ongoing emphasis on periphery subplots that generally aren’t as compelling as the central storyline. (There is, for example, a whole tangent involving an impending election for District Attorney that remains a momentum killer.) Presumed Innocent, then, benefits substantially from the persistently plausible, matter-of-fact atmosphere and raft of engrossing performances, with, in terms of the latter, Ford’s typically commanding work matched by an often astonishingly strong supporting cast that includes Brian Dennehy, Raul Julia, Bonnie Bedelia, and John Spencer. And although the picture doesn’t contain much in the way of memorable, stand-out sequences, Presumed Innocent, in the end, does manage to come off as a refreshingly adult drama that certainly captures the spirit of Turow’s padded-out book.

**1/2 out of ****