Jagged Edge is a by-the-numbers totally formulaic, poorly written, but fairly well-acted murder mystery. It also contains all the typical 1980's movie tropes - specifically the all-nude sex scenes which add nothing to the story but for some reason were required in almost every rated-R movie in the 1980's. Those scenes in this movie actually chew up a lot of screen time. I fast-forwarded through them, which had the added benefit of making the viewing time shorter.
The only "strength" to this film is that even though the Chekov's Gun is so obviously and frequently pointed out so that it's inevitable use is an actual release as to when they were finally going to get to it, and that although it apparently pointed to the "real killer" I was still not sure until the very end whether the killer was - in fact - the killer. The director makes good use of camera angles, mirrors, and the like to maintain tension on this point until the final reveal. Which, I must admit, was a bit disappointing if not deflated. Jeff Bridges does an admiral job putting reasonable doubt into everyone's mind - is he guilty or just being elaborately set-up?
Other than that, this is your typical "Perry Mason" type legal drama - where unfeasible courtroom gymnastics abound - surprise witnesses, no discovery, constant "exceptions" to the hear-say rule - one would think they had spent the previous four months not preparing for trial but instead having a sexual fling with their client.
In the end, this is a stupid-people-acting-stupidly plot, where people do exactly what's not in their best interest in order to put them in danger to keep the tension high, and where the "out" is glaring and obvious.
The only "strength" to this film is that even though the Chekov's Gun is so obviously and frequently pointed out so that it's inevitable use is an actual release as to when they were finally going to get to it, and that although it apparently pointed to the "real killer" I was still not sure until the very end whether the killer was - in fact - the killer. The director makes good use of camera angles, mirrors, and the like to maintain tension on this point until the final reveal. Which, I must admit, was a bit disappointing if not deflated. Jeff Bridges does an admiral job putting reasonable doubt into everyone's mind - is he guilty or just being elaborately set-up?
Other than that, this is your typical "Perry Mason" type legal drama - where unfeasible courtroom gymnastics abound - surprise witnesses, no discovery, constant "exceptions" to the hear-say rule - one would think they had spent the previous four months not preparing for trial but instead having a sexual fling with their client.
In the end, this is a stupid-people-acting-stupidly plot, where people do exactly what's not in their best interest in order to put them in danger to keep the tension high, and where the "out" is glaring and obvious.
Tell Your Friends