Critic Reviews
47
Metascore
Mixed or Average
positive
6(33%)
mixed
9(50%)
negative
3(17%)
Showing 18 Critic Reviews
100
Riveting.
88
The plot is as good as crime procedurals get, but the movie is really better than its plot because of the three-dimensional characters.
80
A tight courtroom melodrama that serves up twist after twist like so many baffling knuckle balls, this film handles its suspenseful material with skill and style.
80
A crackling courtroom drama with more twists than O.J. had alibis.
75
As a forum for its actors and for the big-screen directorial debut of multi-Emmy winner Gregory Hoblit, the film is up to the job.
75
This is the sort of movie that doesn't become irritating even when it's predictable.
58
Gere taps into his charismatic-weasel mode, but director Gregory Hoblit fills the big screen with excellent TV actors (Andre Braugher, John Mahoney, Maura Tierney) and then gives them nothing interesting to do.
50
Norton's performance and the well-paced tension preceding the movie's climactic sequence provide an entertaining if slightly predictable thriller.
50
The sky-high sleaze quotient -- lascivious priests, amateur porn movies, teenage hustlers and institutionalized corruption of every kind -- ought to guarantee fun for all, but heavy messages keep poking through and spoiling everything.
50
Despite high production standards and a slick advertising campaign, Primal Fear is as trite and routine as any made-for-TV courtroom drama.
