In 1993 small-town Arkansas, 3 small boys go missing only for their bodies to be found the next day, naked, bound, beaten and, in one case, mutilated. The ensuing arrest, trial and conviction of 3 teenage boys is predicated on a wish to see the crime attributed to satanism. But the evidence is somewhat shaky.
This adaptation of a true story has strengths and weaknesses. The strength is that it is absorbing, genuinely harrowing at times, and with several good performances. The less good news is that, as a narrative, it ends up (inevitably) being somewhat unsatisfying due to the absence of a proper conclusion. Also, the usually reliable Colin Firth is somewhat off his game, and never really convinces as affluent pro bono investigator Ron Lax.
Even so, if looked at solely as a catalogue of investigative shortcomings, shockingly poor evidence, and judicial partiality, it is a sobering couple of hours, and worth catching on that basis.
This adaptation of a true story has strengths and weaknesses. The strength is that it is absorbing, genuinely harrowing at times, and with several good performances. The less good news is that, as a narrative, it ends up (inevitably) being somewhat unsatisfying due to the absence of a proper conclusion. Also, the usually reliable Colin Firth is somewhat off his game, and never really convinces as affluent pro bono investigator Ron Lax.
Even so, if looked at solely as a catalogue of investigative shortcomings, shockingly poor evidence, and judicial partiality, it is a sobering couple of hours, and worth catching on that basis.