Constance Campana

I can't give it 5 stars just because it ended "realistically." What I can say is that Grisham made his point and I 100% hated the ending. I could not give it less than 3 stars because I like his books (mostly) and think he is a good writer. But there was a little too much glee at the end--and Grisham made that decision. I didn't learn anything I didn't already know. I didn't go anywhere I haven't already been. I read it all the way to the end, enjoying all of it, until the end, and then I felt like a door had been slammed in my face. He had his bought, 2 dimensional state supreme court judge become 3 dimensional by fact of almost losing his own son. Suddenly he understands the pain of others. Then he has this "changed" judge still voted against the suffering people. What he showed me is a person who is damned. The drama became melodrama. Useless. I just felt sad.

I wanted to give it 2 & 1/2 stars but couldn't make the 3rd star behave. I liked it; it was well shot; even liked most of the characters. But I really didn't like what it was about. I don't like movies built around the idea of a deeper reality that no one else knows about except a few--and those few control the events. Coupled with that idea is that the deeper reality is always very, very dark and they pull the others in--except, of course, the one or two people who can tell something is wrong. Was it scary? No. It was creepy. The most action is in the last 20 minutes or so, when the tension breaks and everything comes to a head. On the other hand, it's hard for scary movies to get a high score--so I am going to go ahead and give it 3 stars. It's better than many.