Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Humaira Grant It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Ecohawk You can read the plot synopsis but the point is missed on people from NYC and LA. This goes to the heartland and explains how discreet government corruption can hurt us badly. Its also illustrates why "obstruction of justice" is such an important law and why (now) Donald Trump should be deposed and thrown out. Just remember the truism, "if one lies about small things, they will like about big things too"

fahimay I have to tell and affirm that movies made in the 90's have more substance and intelligence than recent ones. The movie is centered on intelligent discussion, so you need to concentrate to follow the plot. Though I haven't read John Grisham at all, I love the movies based on his novels. So far have watched A Time to Kill, Runaway Jury, The Firm, The Client; and I think the legal elements make the thriller more exciting.Being a fan of Denzel Washington, he aptly fits into the role and love the way he moves confidently, with practiced ease. Julia Roberts looks pretty, and gives a commendable performance as the scared legal student on the run. When she remarks her brief was 'ludicrous', I never expected it to form the crux of the plot (though the movie was titled about a brief), I mean what can a law student discover that the FBI cannot? But that's the way John Grisham thinks, and it's interesting.I was a bit disappointed that there were no court scenes as I love courtroom dramas. Nevertheless, the movie keeps you at the edge of the seat, as you keep trying to find out who were the perpetrators of the murder. I found myself wanting to know more even after Roberts reveals the content of her brief to Washington, and was quite satisfied in the end.

OllieSuave-007 This is an intriguing political thriller where law student Darby Shaw (Julia Roberts) writes a brief about a government conspiracy after two U.S. Supreme Court justices were assassinated. Soon, she finds herself a target of corrupt government spies.The action begins when misfortune starts to happen around Shaw after her brief landed in the hands of the FBI, and soon finds herself dodging assassins and hiding out in hotels across the country, giving us an exciting on-the-run plot. She finds her only ally is journalist Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington), who forms a good team with Shaw in trying to expose these bad guys and find the truth behind the conspiracy. The theory implicating White House officials adds onto the tension of the plot.The acting is good and believable the Roberts and Washington have some good chemistry together. Their characters were well-developed as the movie progresses. Those bad guys popping up here and there with their disastrously deeds give you suspenseful moments, and makes you wonder if the government or Uncle Sam is watching your every move.Overall, a good political thriller that one will find captivating.Grade A-

classicalsteve Interestingly, about 13 years after the release of the original novel "The Pelican Brief" by John Grisham which centers around the investigations and theories involving the assassinations of two Supreme Court Justices, two Supreme Court Justices' careers also ended close to the same time. Justice Sandra Day O'Connor announced her plans to retire in the summer of 2005 which was followed by the unexpected death of William Rehnquist in the Fall of the same year. It's always a bit spooky when real life follows fiction, although as far as is known, the departure of Rehnquist and O'Connor had nothing to do with "foul play" or political currents, or did it?In "The Pelican Brief", two diametrically opposed Supreme Court Justices, Rosenberg and Jensen, are assassinated by unknown assailants for unknown reasons. Rosenberg was an aging liberal whose days on the court were probably numbered. Jensen was a conservative in the prime of his judicial career. While the first assassination is advantageous to the current sitting US President who we learn is a Republican, the second assassination makes no sense in terms of the first. At a law school near New Orleans, an ambitious young law student, Darby Shaw (played with unending believability by Julia Roberts) is dating one of her law professors, Thomas Callahan (Sam Shepherd). After both professor and student learn of the assassinations, Darby decides she can crack the case. (Callahan had interned with Rosenberg when he was a law student.) While law enforcement believes the assassinations were probably enacted as revenge by a disillusioned losing party in a former case, Shaw decides to research deeper to unearth something political which Rosenberg and Jensen might have had in common. She engages in her own investigation of sorts and writes an essay on her findings, a "brief".She passes her brief to Callahan who doesn't take it too seriously. He takes a trip to Washington D.C. to attend the funeral of Rosenberg where he meets a former classmate, Gavin Verheek (John Heard), who now works in the legal department of the FBI. Callahan offers the brief to Verheek who in turn passes into the FBI. The FBI begins believing the brief is a much more serious theory of the assassinations than either Callahan or Verheek had realized, and the brief ends up in the hands of the president.Back in New Orleans, Darby is fearing for her life when tragedy suddenly strikes. She believes the brief has opened up a kind of Pandora's Box and doesn't know who's after her nor whose after some of the people around her. Is it the CIA or another secret organization which has decided to kill her because of the brief? She contacts Washington D.C. political reporter Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington) to help her. The plot then becomes about whether Darby and Gray can confirm the theory of the brief before they are assassinated themselves, like the Supreme Court Justices.A very well-done and spot-on political thriller, all from the mind of John Grisham. Julia Roberts is 100% convincing as Darby Shaw, the-opinionated-law-student-turned-political-target whose brief is shaking the foundations of the political hierarchy at the highest levels. Washington is equally as intense as Gray Grantham, a "Woodstein"-type reporter trying to get to the bottom of political corruption wherever it festers. A few name talents appear in smaller roles, notably Hume Cronyn as Justice Rosenberg and John Lithgow as Smith Keen, editor of Grantham's newspaper the Washington Herald. A compelling film from start to finish with an outstanding cast.