Beyond a Reasonable Doubt

Like the decent B-movie director that he is, Hyams tosses in two gripping car chases and blows up a few more vehicles for good measure. But otherwise, there's little in this pointless rehash to distract audiences from the pleasure of watching Tamblyn.

Lacks tension or mystery. Even the courtroom scenes feel artificial.

Lang's film, the last he made in the U.S., exposed the immorality of the death penalty; Hyams's retread offers only more plot and longer, louder car chases.

Comes across as more 80s TV movie than 50s period piece.

The lack of charisma exhibited by leads Jesse Metcalfe and Amber Tamblyn doesn't help matters, and not even the stalwart presence of Michael Douglas fails to provide the proceedings with sufficient gravitas.

The scam is so crazy, it just might work…for a throwaway episode of "Law & Order."

The would-be noir Beyond a Rea sonable Doubt has an absurd story, but on the plus side you can hardly see what's going on because the photography is so murky.

After I saw Michael Douglas in the movie, A Perfect Murder (which you can rent from **** as a download, but otherwise isn't available for download or streaming), which is a very good thriller, I wanted to see Michael Douglas in any other thriller I could. So I rented Beyond A Reasonable Doubt, which is a solid if average thriller, except for two things. First, there's just not enough Michael Douglas. I don't know why movie studios think we don't want to continue to watch our beloved stars as they age. He's still Michael Douglas and he's still excellent. The second problem is, they throw in an absurd double backflip of a twist in the final scene that is so unbelievable you just have to pretend it never happened. There was a period from about 2005 until just a couple of years ago, when every thriller had to throw in a ridiculous extra super twist at the very end. They always ruined the story but thankfully these days they don't seem to be doing that anymore. Beyond A Reasonable Doubt fell right smack dab in the midst of that silly trend. Basically, the plot (without giving away more than a trailer would) is about a journalist who has a hunch that a successful prosecutor is planting DNA evidence in every case he tries, to win a conviction, and the journalist sets out to prove it. Michael Douglas is the evil DA. It's a fair rental, but if you haven't seen A Perfect Murder yet, rent that first. It's a lot better.

I like it, because it kept me interested enough with a final not obvious at all. Perhaps you could spend some time enjoying it ;)

I hope the check was good for Michael Douglas because I couldn't find a better reason for him to be in this film.

It's sad that Michael Douglas signed onto this movie. The dialogue is complete crap and the last line of the movie is stupid and laughable. Worst of all the movie builds up to nothing. It feels like it just stops. I get the feeling that the producers wanted to give it a manageable running time so they cut large chunks that might have helped the movie, but not likely based on the dialogue up to this point. The wist ending to the movie is also horribly obvious from well before the second act gets started. Don't waste your time on this piece of garbage

Mouais… une fin de carrière difficile pour l’estimé Michel douglas qui tourne ici dans un vague polar très vague et certainement somnolent sous la direction d’un Peter Hyams très enclin (déjà) aux films ramollis, y compris lorsqu’ils sont -théoriquement- des films d’action… alors, là, un polar tartiné par des scénaristes tocards de leur état, forcément, ça patine lamentablement. Et d’ailleurs très vite, on s’en aperçoit alors que les paupières se font lourdes et on se demande pourquoi on se retrouve ainsi, inopinément devant un tel somnifère ! ce film est coupable d’endormir les gens, Monsieur le Juge ! endormir les gens à l’insu de leur plein gré, ce qui est encore plus scandaleux, si, si. Et donc, malgré ce bon vieux -et presque complètement vieux- Michel Douglas, rien à faire, c’est tout pourri ! malgré son rôle de procureur qui trafique les preuves pour mettre en taule un Afro-Américain innocent, Votre Honneur ! mais heureusement, il y a Findus, ou plutôt un jeune bellâtre gauchiste qui vient prouver devant le monde entier la vérité, car il fouille et refouille et c’est son travail en effet puisqu’il est un fouille-merde de son état. Enfin, éventuellement, à force d’accélérer, à force d’user de moult avances rapides, on arrive à la fin de ce truc (sinon on ronflerait déjà, ce serait ballot) en l’occurrence très bavard, d’ailleurs… ce qui accentue évidemment encore plus l’endormissement… comme dans une série policière à procédures en fait… genre NCIS ou toutes les merdes de ce genre-là, vous voyez… Mais enfin, bref, j’ai déjà un peu trop étalé le remplissage, il faut conclure : ce texte a été boulotté par le chat qui a pété, au hasard avec deux mots clés : présumé et coupable. Vive l’IA de mon cul !