BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Megamind To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.

Livestonth I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

DeuceWild_77 "The Chamber" tanked at the Box Office when it was released back in '96 due to critics' negative reaction and it was even bashed by the author of the novel himself, John Grisham, who called it a "disaster". Well, i don't know if it was Grisham's genuine feelings about the film or he was just jumping in the bandwagon of badmouthing this, for saving himself to earn more millions from Hollywood for the next screen adaptation of one of his works."The Chamber" isn't by all means a great movie or even one of the best Grisham's adaptations, but it's much better than the bad reputation it got then and still have over the years.Some reviewers here wrote about "major" differences from the book to the screen, but as far as i read the majority of it, they're just picking on the movie, because nothing of them are noteworthy, and about EVERY movie adaptation from the literary world, it change certain aspects from the plot and / or the characters for the storytelling suit the big screen better.James Foley (who helm'd the vastly underrated dark teen drama, "Reckless"; the splendid crime / thriller, "At Close Range" or the superb drama film adapted from Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning play, "Glengarry Glen Ross") knows how to handle social dramas of this kind, approaching dark subjects on the human condition, awareness and behavior and "The Chamber" is a competent exercise on that.Gene Hackman delivers here one of his best performances from the 90's as the hateful bigot, Sam Cayhall, which deserved more recognition and Chris O'Donnel, playing his rookie lawyer and grandson who's advocating him, isn't bland here, in fact, he's solid, looking more mature in his acting and showing how he learned since working with Pacino in "Scent of a Woman".Faye Dunaway is a bit 'out' in her acting, going over-the-top in every scene and being just 11 years younger than Hackman and looking every year of it, it looks implausible the father / daughter kinship.The rest of the cast was given almost nothing to do (some appears in tiny roles such as Robert Prosky), but perform the best they could out of it, especially Raymond J. Barry in a memorable turn as the vicious Klansman.In short, "The Chamber" is worth a watch for fans of Grisham's big screen adaptations and 'death row" flicks such as "Dead Man Walking" ('95) or "Stephen King's The Green Mile" ('99).I give it a solid 7.5 !!

moonspinner55 Gene Hackman does everything but shout "I want to live!' in this indictment of the death penalty, of the gas chamber, of hatred and bigotry, of loyalty to disreputable people, of grandstanding politicians and judges, of family shame and secrets...the list goes on and on. Film begins with a 1967 hate-crime down south attributed to a Klansman, charged with the bomb blast that killed two Jewish boys and maimed their father. Fast-forward 30 years: that Klansman, now aged and set to be executed in the Mississippi State Penitentiary in 28 days, is represented on appeal by the grandson he's never met, a young but not incompetent attorney who figures he's his grandfather's only hope. (Family loyalty gets the green light here, though the reasoning behind the kid's pursuit of this case is tenuous at best. Fans of novelist John Grisham may say "the young man's motivation is clear, to heal family wounds and to mitigate his secret shame," but that only works for a book jacket; on the screen, with N-words exploding and hate-speech spewing out of the one lively character, it's another matter.) When Chris O'Donnell is at the jail, being led down hallways and through locked doors to meet racist, grizzled old Gene Hackman--sharper and saltier than the other Death Row inmates we see--one is apt to get "Silence of the Lambs" déjà vu. Indeed, Hackman is a vile cuss who distrusts everybody, but as the drama unfolds--wherein the attorney and his grandfather learn to work together--one has to wonder if this is meant to be the heart of the material or is there something else lying in wait to surprise us. Are we supposed to be sympathetic towards Hackman's poisonous, hate-filled Sam Cayhall just because he's revealed to have a conscience deep down? Or that he didn't work alone? William Goldman and Chris Reese (a pseudonym for Phil Alden Robinson) adapted Grisham's book, and I'm guessing they weren't clear on how much redemption Sam Cayhall should be shown. It's a movie full of muddled logic, nondescript performances (save for Hackman and an overacting Faye Dunaway as Hackman's daughter) and credibility issues right from the get-go. *1/2 from ****

FlashCallahan Having survived the hatred and bigotry that was his Klansman grandfather's only legacy, young attorney Adam Hall seeks at the last minute to appeal his death sentence for the murder of two small Jewish boys 30 years before. Only four weeks before he is to be executed, Adam meets his grandfather for the first time in the Mississippi prison which has held him since the crime.....The only reason to see this film is for Hackman's central performance. Whenever he's on screen, he's mesmerising, and at times, pretty terrifying. But, the same cannot be said for the rest of the film.It's easily the poorest adaptation of a Grisham novel, and this was when his stories were being churned out every other month, much like young adult novels today.It's as if the studio threw money at it, plastered the writers name everywhere, and hope it would succeed, but it didn't.It's too long, the narrative and direction are terrible, and O'Donnell has the screen presence of that sandwich Tom Cruise ate in Minority Report. He shows no emotion, has no depth, and the final scene where he is running, is funny for all the wrong reasons.The support is there, but no matter how prolific the actor/actress maybe, they suffer because the character is so stereotyped.Come the end, you are. More relieved for Hackman, rather than shocked.One wasted opportunity.

wes-connors Idealistic attorney Chris O'Donnell (as Adam Hall) goes down to Mississippi, to take on the "death row clemency case of his onetime Klansman grandfather" Gene Hackman (as Sam Cayhall). "With just 28 days before the execution, Adam sets out to retrace the events leading to the crime for which Sam was convicted. As the impending death sentence looms closer, Adam works quickly to uncover the family's history for any hidden clues. In a white-knuckle series of twists and turns, Adam discovers deceptions and dark secrets that ultimately lead him to the startling truth," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis."White-knuckled"? Indeed not. "The Chamber" (as in gas chamber) starts off very well; and, Mr. Hackman's portrayal of the yellow-teethed racist is worth a look. Faye Dunaway (as Lee Cayhall Bowman) has a showy supporting role. All in all, the film's personnel portends a much better story than the one which appears on screen. Building up a romance between blue-eyed Mr. O'Donnell and brown-skinned Lela Rochon (as Nora Stark) seems like such an obvious way to improve the story (whether or not it was done in the John Grisham novel), you've got to wonder how on Earth they missed the obvious.***** The Chamber (10/11/96) James Foley ~ Chris O'Donnell, Gene Hackman, Faye Dunaway