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Primal Fear (1996)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
5/05, 8/20
5/05:
Primal Fear is the beginning of Edward Norton's overratedness, and the good thing is he fell off the map in
five years' time because he's so fake, fake, fake.
Occasionally saddled with bad editing, the plot is unbelievable, spinning a huge yarn with many weak threads only to
arrive at the lame ending that rivals The Usual Suspects. To make matters
worse, there's no such thing as dissociative identity (aka multiple personality) disorder. Instead, comorbid disorders
are identified. If none can be found, then Aaron Stampler has to be making it up.
Nobody looks like a lawyer, a cop, a judge, a reporter, or a criminal. Richard Gere...gee whiz. Let's
call his performance "Bad Acting 101." Ditto for Laura Linney. Must her character need a drag every time I see her?
All in all, Primal Fear is at once unconvincing and unlikely.
8/20:
Long, boring, and ridiculous, Primal Fear desperately wants me to believe in things that aren't really there.
I recently watched three full seasons of Law & Order and thought of it the standard in legal drama. Hence, it's
safe to say what I saw in Primal Fear pales in comparison. Ben Stone can defeat Martin Vail in trial and
tap dance around his head in a battle of wits.
Richard Gere embarrasses himself by putting on cute-boy looks as an attempt to smarm his way around the unattractive,
nicotine-addicted prosecutor. This isn't Pretty Woman; there's a serious case afoot,
and his actions border on unethical. His character also makes a mockery of the black female judge's courtroom with silly
tactics and many stabs at hypothetical situations. At one point, he grabs the mike and tells Stampler to stop being a
pussy; incredibly, nobody saw it. Uh, witness intimidation, anyone?
The most unbelievable performance is given by Edward Norton although others like Laura Linney (who has an awful soundbite
when Stampler is on the stand), Frances McDormand, Andre Braugher, John Mahoney, Alfre Woodard, and Maura Tierney are bad
as well. How Edward Norton was nominated for an Oscar is beyond me. He did fool a lot of voters. Many actors
gave better, more credible performances in Law & Order. Of course, Aaron Stampler did it; I knew that for two
hours, and my time had been wasted after all when the fact was confirmed. And no, he isn't getting out in a month.
Not much is correctly done during the trial. It would help if either side had character witnesses to describe Stampler's
upbringing in Kentucky or his time at the church to shed light on who he was. The other is that Vail wanted a complete
psych evaluation before pleading to the charges brought before Stampler yet it's still ongoing during the trial. That's
not how it works. There isn't a lot of coverage in terms of forensic details pertaining to the crime scene.
All in all, any Law & Order episode will do compared to this junk called Primal Fear.