Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009)

Director:

Peter Hyams

Writers (WGA):

Peter Hyams (screenplay)
Douglas Morrow (1956 screenplay)

Release Date:

10 July 2009 (Spain)

Genre:

Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

Why would a man frame himself... for murder?

Plot:

Remake of the 1956 film noir film "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt" in which a writer's plan to expose a corrupt district attorney takes an unexpected turn.

Plot Keywords:

Remake | Remake Of American Film

Cast

Michael Douglas	...	Mark Hunter
Jesse Metcalfe	...	C.J. Nicholas
Amber Tamblyn	...	Ella Crystal
Orlando Jones	...	Ben Nickerson
Joel Moore	...	Corey Finley
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Michael C. 'Mike' Allen	...	Couple W / Dog - Animal Shelter Scene
Tony Bentley	...	Roger Milner
Lawrence P. Beron	...	Det. Anthony Merchant
David Born	...	Property Sergeant
Edrick Browne	...	Manager
Megan Brown	...	Roberta
Stephanie D. Brown	...	Clerk to the Judge
Crystal Brown-Tatum	...	Newsroom Reporter
Michael Byrnes	...	Cop
Kole Caston	...	Finley's Cameraman
Andrei Constantinescu	...	Bruce Stern
Kip Cummings	...	Reporter
John F. Daniel	...	Animal Shelter Attendant
Sigal Diamant	...	Maralyn
Brad Dison	...	Sound Man
Gary D. Earl	...	Bass Pro Shop Patron
Fred Ellis	...	Forensic expert (as Fred E. Ellis)
Juli Erickson	...	Madalyn Urlanger
Eric Gipson	...	Allen
Ryan Glorioso	...	Animal Control Attendant
Dan Harville	...	Deputy Sheriff O'Neil
Christopher M. Holland	...	Audience member at Dog Show
Grant James	...	Dr. Aaron Wakefield
David Jensen	...	Gary Spota
Derek Wayne Johnson	...	Reporter #4
Kaylon Johnson	...	Videographer
Deborah R. Jones	...	Resturant Patron
Sarah Kearney	...	Anchorwoman
Lori Knighton	...	Newsroom / cousilman
Robert Larriviere	...	Kevin Tarlow
Sharon London	...	Judge Sheppard
Sharon K. London	...	Judge
Mike Martindale	...	Juror
Krystal Mayo	...	Newsroom reporter
Jon Mccarthy	...	Detective Rawley
Lee Ann McDade	...	Audience Member at Dog Show
James B. McDaniel	...	Juror #1
Robin McGee	...	Soundman
Darcel White Moreno	...	New reporter 3
Dennis W. Murphy	...	Newsroom Reporter / Restaurant Patron
Mysti Nash	...	Court Goer
Ashley-Anne Parker	...	Court Goer
Meade Patton	...	Det. Riddick
Kelvin Payton	...	Cameraman
Erika Perez	...	Juror
Jeannie Perrin	...	Federal Employee
Randal Reeder	...	Survival Man
Carl Savering	...	Bailiff
Arlando Smith	...	Dell
Bill Stinchcomb	...	Defense Attorney
Chuck Vail	...	Juror #6
Lawrence Varnado	...	Detective Hollis
Amanda Weisner	...	Spota's Assistant
Brent Weisner	...	Asst. District Attorney
Steven Whiteman	...	Mall shopper / steven
Sewell Whitney	...	Weldon
Michele Williams	...	Danielle

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for a sex scene, violence and brief strong language.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:M18

Filming Locations:

Benton, Louisiana, USA

Company:

Foresight Unlimited

Trivia:

Director Trademark: [Peter Hyams] [character]One of the characters is called Spota.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Mark Hunter (Michael Douglas) goes to the prison to tell C. J. Nicholas (Jesse Metcalfe) that the phones in the prison can be spied, he leaves and surpasses a corner. Then, the camera changes to Nicholas, who insults Hunter. When the camera returns to Hunter, he is slightly before the corner again.

Movie Connections:

References "Jeopardy!" (1984)

Subpar thriller that looks straight out of the 80s...

This movie is a remake but will be judged on its own merit, especially since I did not see the original.

On paper, things look good. You've got the seed of a promising story featuring several characters who could have been interesting, some courtroom drama which could have been intense, some plot twists which could have been shocking and a star lead actor in Michael Douglas who could have sold you this movie with his charisma.

But none of it ever happens. And much of the fault lies with Hyams' terribly outdated direction. While he used to direct somewhat interesting films several decades ago, Hyams has long since lost any edge he might have had and every weakness in his style which we readily forgave back in the 80s are now terribly grating when seen in a 2009 movie. The photography is downright boring, the music is cheesy, pacing and editing awful. Everything seems to come out of a made-for-TV or direct-to-video movie featuring Cheryl Ladd or some other has been.

Michael Douglas only has a few scenes and gives by far the best performance but that's not saying much in this present case, because everybody else is just terrible. Really awful. On top of that, several lines in the script are embarrassing, which makes the actors' job harder. Jesse Metcalfe and Amber Tamblyn are both the real co-leads of this flick and do absolutely nothing with their screen time. Orlando Jones is terribly miscast.

While the premise and basic sketch of the whole plot could have been interesting, neither the writers or the director made it believable. The twists along the way of the story might have been surprising for an average moviegoer in 1984. A quarter of a century later, even a lobotomized hamster will see it from a mile (provided you don't fall asleep before that).

There are so many negatives to this movie that usually it would be worth a 1. But I am raising it by one point for Michael Douglas giving a decent performance and by another point for the interesting seed of a story.

3/10 for the last movie by director Hyams I will ever watch