Criminal Law ** (1988, Gary Oldman, Kevin Bacon, Tess Harper) – Classic Movie Review 10,613

Director Martin Campbell’s 1988 Criminal Law is an interesting but none too convincing suspense thriller, with Britain’s Gary Oldman oddly cast as Ben Chase, a hotshot rising young Boston attorney who gets rich psycho killer Martin Thiel (Kevin Bacon) off a murder charge, but he kills again, playing cat and mouse with Oldman.

Oldman works hard but doesn’t really cut it as a US lawyer, leaving Bacon – also cast against type – to come off better as the smiling criminal law manipulator.

Fellow Brit Campbell (Edge of Darkness) directs capably, desperately trying to give the thing style (filming through rain and into light) and significance it doesn’t deserve, though he throws away talented Karen Young, Joe Don Baker and Tess Harper in unsatisfying support roles.

It starts fairly promisingly, but ultimately Criminal Law has nowhere to go.

Writer: Mark Kasdan.

Also in the cast are Sean McCann, Ron Lea, Michael Sinelnikoff, Karen Woolridge, Terrence Labrosse, Jeannie Walker, Elizabeth Shepherd, Ali Giron, Rob Roy, Barbara Jones, Tyrone Benskin, and Johnny Cuthbert.

It was shot in Montréal, Québec City and Westmount, Québec, Canada, between August and October 1987.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,613

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