Directed by:
Peter HyamsCinematography:
Richard N. HannahComposer:
Michael SmallCast:
Michael Douglas, Hal Holbrook, Yaphet Kotto, Sharon Gless, James Sikking, Joe Regalbuto, Larry Hankin, Jack Kehoe, Dick Anthony Williams, David Proval (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Hardin is a hard-working, honest judge becoming frustrated with a legal system, that continuously forces him to release criminals on technicalities. He reaches his breaking point when he must set free two members of a child-pornography ring accused of murdering a boy. Feeling defeated, Hardin turns to his mentor Judge Caulfield, who ushers him into a secret society of magistrates called the Star Chamber. These judges act as deadly vigilantes, exacting revenge on heinous lawbreakers freed on technicalities. But when the Star Chamber sets its sights on the child-porno duo, Hardin finds himself protecting the killers, who may not be guilty after all. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (1)
Justice. Law. Emotion. The first is blind, the second closes the eyes of the first, and the third brings about blindness. Ophthalmological issues entering a judge's decision-making can be resolved by taking the first into your own hands, breaking the second, and freeing yourself from the third. Peter Hyams may not be an exceptional director, but the combination of the first half, which plays on emotions with towering injustice, and the second half, where the worm of doubt begins its slow gnawing activity, worked quite well. The final fifteen minutes devolve into a classic action B-movie, yet I didn’t have a major issue with that profile. P.S.: The very last scene nicely left the door ajar for further interpretation. Perhaps one where the tenacious Black detective unexpectedly pulls out a revolver and with one shot towards the passenger, demonstrates whose name is on the payroll.
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