Lawyers, Guns and Money: An occasional series on movies, TV and other stories about lawyers and the law — Juror #2 (2024, Dir. Clint Eastwood)

A man is picked for jury duty. He seems like a solid enough fellow, maybe a little melancholy, and more handsome than most, because he’s played by Nicholas Hoult, whose eyes are an almost impossibly bright shade of blue. He shows up the first day of the trial and a look of panic plays out across his face. It seems he might have done something in his past that could have direct bearing on whether or not the defendant is found guilty. If he comes forward, he might end up behind bars himself.

It’s a scenario straight out of a legal thriller, and Juror #2 is a pretty good one. It’s also very characteristic of its director, the somehow 94-year-old Clint Eastwood: taut, lean, and efficient, with no compulsion to take two minutes conveying something that can be taken care of in 30 seconds. Eastwood will go down as one of the most economical filmmakers to walk Hollywood, or, in this case, Chatham County, Georgia, where Juror #2 takes place. (Smart move, by the way: Generous tax incentives make Georgia one of the least expensive places to shoot a movie, so you might as well make one that’s actually set there.)