Justice has its price.
Jan Schlickmann is a cynical lawyer who goes out to 'get rid of' a case, only to find out it is potentially worth millions. The case becomes his obsession, to the extent that he is willing to give up everything—including his career and his clients' goals—in order to continue the case against all odds.
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Classical in form, grave, contemporary and earnest.
- classical in formformally daring
- gravecomic
- contemporarynostalgic
- earnestironic
- contemplativerelentless
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“Is John Travolta the best thing in A Civil Action?”
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“Is the slow pace a feature rather than a flaw?”
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- Marco-Hugo Landeta Vacason TMDB · Sep 20267/10
(CASTELLANO) Lo más interesante de este drama judicial es que no juega a ser una película cómoda de buenos contra malos. Parte de algo terrible —familias convencidas de que la contaminación del agua ha enfermado y matado a sus hijos—, pero enseguida desplaza el foco hacia una pregunta bastante incómoda: ¿qué ocurre cuando el dolor entra en un despacho de abogados y tiene que traducirse en pruebas, costes, estrategia y dinero? Ahí es donde la película gana fuerza. No convierte la justicia en un discurso bonito, sino en un mecanismo caro, frío y agotador, donde tener razón no siempre basta y donde las víctimas pueden acabar siendo una pieza más dentro de una maquinaria que nadie controla del todo. John Travolta funciona bien precisamente porque su personaje no empieza como un santo. Jan Schlichtmann es elegante, seguro de sí mismo, vanidoso y muy consciente del valor económico de cada caso. Al principio parece casi más interesado en calcular posibilidades que en escuchar de verdad a las familias. Y eso hace que su evolución resulte más interesante. No es el abogado puro que se lanza a salvar el mundo desde el minuto uno, sino alguien que va quedando atrapado por un caso que primero c
Read the whole review on TMDB - CinemaSerfon TMDB · Apr 20246/10
Based on a true story, John Travolta portrays an ambulance chasing lawyer whose company takes 40% of any settlement they get for their clients following accidents in the workplace, or during surgery, or on the road etc. It's when he becomes aware of a clutch of leukaemia sufferers that he begins to suspect that a local tannery might be polluting the water supply with toxic chemicals. Now he is used to quick in and out judicial procedures, high profit low costs. This case is the reverse. He knows that to bring a civil suit against a large-scale entity is rife with risk and costs, but he convinces his colleagues to take it on. The opponents have hired the services of the experienced "Facher" (Robert Duvall) who knows exactly how to play the system. He is an expert at dragging things out and protracting the entire legal process until his antagonists run out of money, or maybe even the will to live. With the costs mounting and the court case showing no sign of concluding, he and his team face bankruptcy. Can they get a settlement in time? It's all a rather plodding drama with little by way of excitement to stimulate the attention. Sure, the atrocity is ghastly but the dramatisation of
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Cast
- John TravoltaJan Schlichtmann
- Robert DuvallJerome Facher
- Tony ShalhoubKevin Conway
- William H. MacyJames Gordon
- Željko IvanekBill Crowley
- Bruce NorrisWilliam Cheeseman
- John LithgowJudge Walter J. Skinner
- Kathleen QuinlanAnne Anderson
- Peter JacobsonNeil Jacobs
- Mary MaraKathy Boyer
Crew
- Steven ZaillianDirector
- Steven ZaillianScreenplay
- Conrad HallDirector of Photography
- Danny ElfmanOriginal Music Composer
- Wayne WahrmanEditor
- Robert RedfordProducer
- Scott RudinProducer
- Steven ZaillianProducer
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