Dave Dequeljoe

Runaway Jury (2003) is an engaging & brilliantly acted courtroom drama that was clearly inspired by two classics of this genre: A Few Good Men (1992), and 12 Angry Men (1957). Although this movie's dialogue is not as crisp as those two, I would still highly recommend it to all my fellow Americans so we can better understand the workings of our Justice system. Did you know there are 'jury consultants'!? If we are to have a well-functioning society, we need to have first-class organizations in all sectors that we can trust to keep us moving forward, as well as an educated public to ensure that we continually improve them all as we go. As long as there are gaps in the system and/or ignorance in our citizens, we are all at risk of letting our hard fought freedoms and rights slip away. I would also love to encourage everyone to vote on the issues and not based solely on their political party; in my old age I am finally independent of both our parties, and am much happier! I have spent far too much time as an extreme conservative (I am a retired Navy fighter pilot), and then as an extreme liberal (from my time teaching around the world in the Tech sector), and in both cases I was miserable! Only now in my relatively older age do I see the world from the perspective of all my friends and family, and all the people I have ever met, taking all things into consideration. It is a hard thing to attain, but perpetually seeking wisdom from everyone you meet is the key to our chances of creating a better society, where all of us can thrive and live a beautiful life. I love America, and it saddens me to see our nation's families torn apart because they can't understand that their favorite TV News channel only prospers when there is conflict, and lots of it. As The Police sing in their not-so-famous song "High Spirits In the Material World" --- "...there IS no political solution...", so maybe we should stop wasting our time arguing & repeating what we have been programmed to think. Instead, we should dream of how glorious our country could be if we all worked together for a common goal. There IS a solution where we all win, but the hard part to arrive at is the understanding that we ONLY win as one team. After spending a large part of my life defending the country from our enemies, I am so grateful to God for the opportunity to defend us yet again from our new 'enemies': ourselves! And all we need to do? Is commit to learning & teaching in every sacred moment we get, for only through genuine curiosity to learn about each other can you arrive at the blissful conclusion that Mr. Rogers learned from a social worker & carried around with him in his wallet: "there isn't anyone you couldn't love, if you took the time to learn their story..." May God please bless our wonderful country forever and ever, and may we serve God by enthusiastically serving each other, with the very best of our gifts, untainted by personal prejudices and judgments of each other. Our Founding Fathers words of wisdom echo in my head every day: UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL... I hope this review finds you happy and healthy, and I hope you enjoy the movie as much as I did, or even more! * 4.14 STARS out of 5, rounding up because it is "Christmas in July", hah!