The Chamber [DVD]

Gene as always was great. A lot of reviews attck Chris O'Donnell for having no emotion but keep in mind, he grew up in a totally dysfunctional family, so he did play his part well. This film shows the generational effect of ignorance and hate. Thankfully, there was little violence shown...I was worried about that. I can see how some people would use this film to perpetuate the stereotype of racist , dumb, backwards Mississippians, but it really isn't about the state. White Supremacists are everywhere. The most sickening part of the movie is the political, white boys club trying to bury their own names cuz they are Klan, too.

Seen it many times. Very good movie, but loved how grandfather, daughter and grandson come together. Sad ending but heart warming. The cruelty of south is overwhelming.

I wonder how some people can rate an exceptional movie mediocre, when it is really an incredible work of art. I found this movie to be touching, at the end it was a tearjerker. Not because I felt sorry for the murder, but because he was made to seem human. Too many times we fail in American society to accept that we have different peoples in our country that are a product of that society. We are taught to hate and dislike one another from our environment. Faye Dunaway and Gene Hackmen gave Acadamy award winner performances as far as I was concerned. And I think anyone that walkway from this movie without a tear is not human.

Okay, so this film isn't what most Grisham fans, especially those who have seen adaptions such as "The Firm" and "The Rainmaker", and the author himself were hoping for, but it wasn't all bad. For one thing, it had Gene Hackman playing the aged condemned Klansman Sam Cayhall, a role Mr. Hackman aced. Chris O'Donnell wasn't all bad as Adam Hall, though this film was released not far from "Batman and Robin" so I involuntarily find myself making an unfavorable comparison between these two of Mr. O'Donnell's roles...he has better ones in the future once people have had a chance to recover from the trauma of that Batman disaster. Ultimately timing seems to have been against the young lad during this film. My other beef with this picture is it's noticeable deviations from it's source material. I consider "The Chamber" to be a classic Grisham work and one of my favorites in his bibliography, which is why I wanted to see this film. I certainly have no problem with a book's film adaptions steering away a bit from it's source material (i.e. The Shawshank Redemption), but when the alterations to the plot just don't work, that's when a film suffers. For example, this film's plot device of a secret society sanctioned by the state government (at the very least) being in league with the KKK was just an over-the-top attempt to explain racism in Mississippi during the Civil Rights era...the book's way of explaining that same issue may create some fictional events, but those are on a much smaller scale and are properly incoperated into history...therefore, the book's way works. As for the villain, Raymond J. Barry's role of Rollie Wedge was expanded from it's source material in the hopes that Jack Nickelson would take up the role. Unfortunetly that didn't happen. I'm not convinced that Mr. Barry couldn't have handled the role. Rather, I criticize the way the character was written in this adaption. I wasn't entirely thrilled with the character in the book either as he seemed to be too slick and undetectible in there. I think a hybrid of the book and movie versions would have made for the perfect villain for this plot. I did like that the FBI in the film knew something about him whereas they were completely unaware that he had even been born in the book. Perhaps he ought to have been more slick in the film but allow the FBI to know something anyway...they are pretty good. Also, having pose as the condemned man's brother without us having met any real brother (another deviation as we met one brother in the book) lessoned the impact of suspense that that scene could have had. But, for all the dissappointments that this film gave to Grisham loyalists like myself, the acting was still solid and the plot was just similar enough to the book that we can make the connection. If you're a die-hard Grisham fan who must have it all, include this in your collection. Otherwise, I'll leave it up to you. Enjoy.

Great movie, great acting! Love the suspense.

It is an easy matter for Hollywood to exploit the medieval south for cheap self-aggrandizing brownie points. It doesn't seem to matter if the story and script are good or true. In the case of movies about Dixie and violence it is really not necessary to invent the story line, there are so many real ones to work from. Try Mississippi Burning, Ghosts of Mississippi and more. So, if an author or producer wants to invent the story it needs to say something better or different, however subtly; this movie doesn't do that. Further, the script is weak and hackneyed. There are some fine actors in the cast but some are miscast and others give mediocre performances or are hamstrung by poor narrative and dialog. I can imagine a movie based on this movies themes that would be poignant, filled with pathos, morally instructive, historically useful but this is not that movie.

Great

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Would highly recommend this courtroom thriller. Fantastic acting, different spin on usual courtroom drama. Well worth watching. 10/10

Je suis bien content d'avoir accès à la trame sonore de ce film à suspense !

As a fan of John Grisham, this was a very difficult book to film and yet bring out the interplay between the two main characters. However, this was achieved reasonably well.

arrived in a timely manner, well packaged, no problems. Dark story line, but good acting.

Excellent movie