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Primal Fear tells the story of Aaron, a young altar boy accused of the brutal murder of the local archibishop. High-powered Chicago attorney Martin Vail (Richard Gere) puts himself forward as the man to defend him, albeit for the main reason that doing so will put his name in the headlines and thus further his career due to the massive press coverage that the case is getting, as he spots a news broadcast in a bar showing Aaron escape on the run from the police across train tracks, almost getting killed in the process.
On the opposite side of the fence is prosecuting attorney Jane Venable (Laura Linney – Ozark), Vail’s ex-lover. As the case unfolds, Vail finds himself uncovering an immense amount of corruption, resulting in a trial that will test his skill, judgement andhis win-at-any-cost attitude.
Gere turns out his usual good performance as the stressed-out lawyer trying to defend what first appears to be the indefensible. Linney has a fair bit more to get stuck into here than she did in the average action flick, Congo, but you don’t really get a sense of chemistry between them as they square up against each other in the courtroom scenes, save for the occasional mentions of this outside of that environment. They could just as easily have been out of favour with each other for any other reason.
For the most part, the rest of the cast give adequate performances to tell the story, the cast including Frances McDormand from last year’s critically-acclaimed Fargo. However, the real revelation in this film, and the best reason to make a point of seeing it, is the acting from theaccused altar boy, played by Edward Norton, also seen in this year’s biopic, The People Vs Larry Flynt, opposite Woody Harrelson and on the other side of the law starring as Larry Flynt’s lawyer.
The picture quality is very good, although some scenes do have a slightly washed-out appearance with some speckling. Sound quality is also very good, but mainly functional. 26 chapters cover the length of the film well, and while there are no extras, the disc is almost filled to capacity with 61.49 on side one and 64.00 on side two.
Overall, this is a competent courtroom thriller which does have some slow moments, but with the best scenes reserved for those between Gere and Norton.
Film: 3/5
Picture: 4/5
Sound: 4/5
Primal Fear is available on fDVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 125 minutes
Distributor: Pioneer LDCE
Year: 1996
Released: 1997
Cat.no: PLFEB 35641
Chapters: 26 (15/11)
Sound: Dolby Surround
Languages: English
Widescreen: 1.85:1
Sides: 2 (CLV)
Price: £24.99
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Producer: Gary Lucchesi
Screenplay: Steve Shagan, Ann Biderman
Music: James Newton Howard
Cast:
Martin Vail: Richard Gere
Janet Venable: Laura Linney
John Shaughnessy: John Mahoney
Judge Shoat: Alfre Woodard
Molly: Frances McDormand
Aaron Stampler: Edward Norton
Goodman: Andre Braugher
Archibishop Rushman: Stanley Anderson
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.