Hyams takes a perfectly good story and kills it with logic loopholes, inconsistent character behavior, horrendous, headache-inducing cutting, and a number of brainless chase scenes.
Comment
01/07/10
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (2009)
4
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:26
Fresh:1
Rotten:25
Average Rating:3/10
Consensus: Hackneyed and over dramatic, this undercooked courtroom drama suffers from bad dialogue and a twist ending you'll see from a distance.
Runtime: 1 hr 45 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
US Box Office: $0
Synopsis: High profile lawyer, Mark Hunter (Michael Douglas) has an impeccable record putting criminals behind bars and is a shoo-in for governor in the upcoming election. But when ambitious rookie... [More]
Starring: Jesse Metcalfe, Amber Tamblyn, Michael Douglas, Joel David Moore
Director: Peter Hyams
Reviews for Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
grows more preposterous as it unfolds
12/23/09
Conscientiously creepy, but with a finale just too rushed to correlate with what preceded before. Though Metcalfe isn't bad, in commanding viewer attention as well as he does his tool in Desperate's random bulked for booty, housewife gardens.
12/20/09
While the original is perhaps not a faultless classic, it certainly offers more excitement and competence than the star of John Tucker Must Die and the director of A Sound of Thunder can offer.
12/14/09
The result is at times genuinely suspenseful ... and if the final twist doesn't drive you crazy, the cleverness may win you over.
10/08/09
Comes across as more 1980s TV movie than 1950s period piece.
10/02/09
Top CriticA good rule to follow for wannabe gritty thrillers: Lead actors shouldn't remind you of late-night informercial pitchmen.
09/14/09
There's little in this pointless rehash to distract audiences from the pleasure of watching Tamblyn, a fine young actress whose direct, grownup stare belies her baby features.
09/14/09
There's fun to be had in a rickety Coney Island rollercoaster manner, and it's not terrible late at night on the couch with a bag of warm popcorn, though it is just too silly and slight for all its bluster.
09/14/09
Preposterous, asinine, poorly edited and downright silly with more unintentional humor than your average courtroom thriller.
09/12/09
What you won't be able to figure out is why this laughable yarn didn't go straight to DVD.
09/11/09
The leads can't lend either spunk or gravitas to what was already a preposterous yarn 50 years ago.
09/11/09
Top CriticThere are plenty of reasonable doubts about his mediocre legal thriller remake.
09/11/09
I've got no problem with movies that stack up twists like crazy straws. Hyam's script, however, depends on us being dumber than every character in the film—you'd have to reach protozoan levels just to resist wanting to strangle everyone in it.
09/11/09
Despite excellent stunt work and a too-brief appearance by Orlando Jones as an unflappable cop, the movie -- unlike Mr. Douglas’s hairdo -- never rises above mediocrity.
09/11/09
Top CriticAn undercooked crime flick whose real mystery is why it was made.
09/11/09
What I can’t figure out is how director Peter Hyams can remake a 1956 movie from the great Fritz Lang and not learn anything about suspense, pacing and storytelling in the process.
09/11/09
Like its title, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt is a generic, forgettable courtroom thriller.
09/10/09
Top CriticBeyond a Reasonable Doubt feels like some throwaway 1980s TV movie, with its implausible premise, dizzying twists, cheesy montages and melodramatic score.
09/09/09
Douglas makes smarm a chewy pleasure, but this is a noir in search of a hero we can root for because we actually buy what he’s doing.
09/09/09
Latest News for Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
September 10, 2009:
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August 05, 2009:
Trailer & Poster Review 
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