I just finished watching this after I just finished hearing about it. I'll say it's not great, but its definitely worth the time to watch.
You have a very dramatic story of a murdering bigot's grandson (who's a lawyer) trying to save his grandfather (Gene Hackman) from his execution in 28 days. Just from their you know the plot is going to thicken.
When I saw this movie had Gene Hackman and Faye Dunaway I said "great I love those actors". It's also got Chris O'Donnell, OK not a bad actor (but does he remind anyone else of Matthew Perry?), and it's even got Bo Jackson.
I was surprised by a few things. One was that, Bo Jackson, despite not having many lines, was quite good at acting. Another less pleasant was that, as much as I love her, Faye Dunaway did not do an overly impressive performance. Watch her in "Bonnie and Clyde" and then compare her to THIS role... you're not even on the same chart. Playing a rich Southern Bell is maybe more difficult for her, but she did have a few good scene's playing a drunk. One thing that didn't surprise me was Gene Hackman. Mr. Hackman is undoubtedly a great actor, is this movie he made no exception. He definitely needs to give thanks to his make up crew, but he certainly delivered the punches. The emotions he showed seemed so powerful, like he's really ready to join in a lynching. But he's also prepared, not ready, but prepared to forgive.
Really i think that the only problem with this movies was the scenes without Gene Hackman. The rest of the scenes made everything seem more like a "Made for TV movie". The chemistry between Adam Hall (Chris O'Donnell) and Nora Stark (Lela Rochon) was played off of more when they WEREN'T together. With better acting this could have been a much better film. But still it was not bad.
Kudos to John Grisham for the novel, It's a good idea, it wasn't played out as well as it could have... But still, it's still worth while watching.
