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Post by ck100 on Jun 30, 2023 3:57:07 GMT
It's not a 90's Tom Cruise film you see talked about much, but it was another box office success for him when it first came out. It's been many years since I've last seen it so I don't recall much from it. It does have a good cast and director though. It's another John Grisham book adaptation that was a success and spawned more movie adaptations. Leonard Maltin Movie Guide Review: The Firm (1993) - 3 out of 4 stars
"Slick adaptation of John Grisham's bestseller about a Harvard law school grad who's wooed by a Memphis law firm and happily signs on, never suspecting the sinister truth behind its gracious facade. Good storytelling and good performances, but it goes on too long...and makes some unfortunate changes from Grisham's novel. Still, it's attractive and entertaining. Paul Sorvino appears unbilled as a Mafioso."  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 30, 2023 6:09:20 GMT
I haven't seen it.
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Post by janntosh on Jun 30, 2023 12:25:28 GMT
the first half is stronger. It has a real suspenseful, almost creepy vibe at times, when you're wondering exactly what is going on here. The second half just turns into a "Everyone helps Cruise defeat the bad guys" type ending. Also the score is way too cheery and bouncy sounding. It really hurts the movie. A more Bernard Hermann type score would have been appropriate.
still it's a very well made thriller and it shows how big Tom Cruise was back in the day and how even adult targeted thrillers could rule the summer box office
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Post by Captain Spencer on Jun 30, 2023 14:06:42 GMT
Leonard complaining yet again how a movie goes on too long.
I haven't seen all the John Grisham adaptations, but out of all the ones I've seen The Firm is my favorite. I never read the book but I've always heard about how the ending was drastically changed, just as Maltin stated. I suppose I'm glad I didn't read it because it usually annoys me when a movie adaptation makes major changes from a book I've previously read, and I may have ended up disliking the movie version of The Firm if I read the book first.
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Post by jcush on Jul 1, 2023 0:06:02 GMT
I'm a big fan of it. Great cast and an engaging story that builds tension really well. I know Dave Grusin's score is divisive, but I really like it.
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jjamp48
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Post by jjamp48 on Jul 1, 2023 0:12:42 GMT
The movie that knocked Jurassic Park out of first place at the box office. Dinosaurs were no match for lawyers, apparently.
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Jul 2, 2023 5:40:34 GMT
7/10 Solid thriller.
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Post by Hurdy Gurdy Man on Sept 5, 2024 7:18:14 GMT
About the drastically modified resolution of the film compared to the novel:
Sydney Pollack directed both this and Three Days of the Condor. Both are based on novels, both have a similar man-on-the-run plot (though most of Condor is that plot while The Firm turns into that plot only in the second half) and both have resolutions that are very different from their sources but also similar to each other.
Both the source novels have resolutions that are too happy and too optimistic, too simplistic and too naive. It is assumed that the huge conspiracy in both cases is somehow brushed under the carpet without any long-lasting consequences and the whistleblowers in both cases get away scot free without any threat to their lives. Pollack takes a more pragmatic approach to resolving the plots, which is why both the film adaptations have a resolution which is more likely to happen in a real-world scenario.
Of course, Condor is more paranoid and more cynical than The Firm - it was made soon after Vietnam, Watergate, Agent Orange and all that. The ordinary American citizen stopped trusting the government in the 60s and things still haven't got back to the way they were (no pun intended).
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