Primal Fear (1996) Critic Reviews
Metascore®:
Based upon 11 Critic Reviews- Highest Rated
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The special twist-which Paramount Pictures has implored critics not to divulge-redefines the story completely. It also ruins everything.Read the full review
Pared down to a farfetched plot and paper-thin motives, the story relies on an overload of tangential subplots to keep it looking busy. [3 Apr 1996, p.C15]Read the full review
Despite high production standards and a slick advertising campaign, Primal Fear is as trite and routine as any made-for-TV courtroom drama.Read the full review
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.Read the full review
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.Read the full review
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.Read the full review
Riveting.Read the full review
You'd get more of a jolt from Angela Lansbury on "Murder, She Wrote" and more intellectual stimulation from a cozy game of Clue.Read the full review
A crackling courtroom drama with more twists than O.J. had alibis.Read the full review
The plot is as good as crime procedurals get, but the movie is really better than its plot because of the three-dimensional characters.Read the full review
