Here is a big, handsome shyster of a legal thriller, pleading with the viewer to stick with its preposterous twists and turns on the guarantee that the crowning revelation will blow our socks off. In this, as in all things, the film is not to be trusted. I was similarly suspicious of Anthony Hopkins, who appears to have hit on the bizarre idea of crossing Hannibal Lecter with a leprechaun. He plays an Oirish-American sociopath who concocts the "perfect crime" and then twinkles merrily in the dock, winking at the judge as the case collapses around him. The courtroom scenes are a broad burlesque. Outraged witnesses hurl themselves over... |