Screen adaptations of a number of John Grisham's best-selling legal thrillers became big box office hits and "The Pelican Brief" certainly falls into this category. With an intriguing plot, numerous action sequences and a star-studded cast, it's no surprise that it did good business. The political conspiracy at the heart of the story makes this an ideal undertaking for director Alan J Pakula whose previous record of success with this type of material is highly impressive and the insidious way in which he builds up the threatening atmosphere of the piece is one of the movie's strongest qualities.
Following the assassinations of a couple of Supreme Court Justices, brilliant law student Darby Shaw (Julia Roberts) does some research into any possible similarities between the two men whose political allegiances were known to be very different. Based on her findings, she then writes a brief that outlines her theory about who was responsible for the murders and passes it to her Tulane University law professor Thomas Callahan (Sam Shepherd), who's also her lover. Callahan passes the brief on to his good friend and FBI lawyer Gavin Verheek (John Heard) who, in turn, passes it up through his chain of command.
Darby's brief implicates a very wealthy oil tycoon, the FBI and even the White House, so when Callahan is murdered, she suddenly realises that she's in great danger and goes on the run. In her predicament, it's difficult to know who she can trust, so when she contacts respected "Washington Herald" investigative journalist Clay Grantham (Denzel Washington) who, coincidentally had also been tipped off about the story by an anonymous caller who got cold feet before disclosing everything he knew. Darby and Grantham then team up to chase the evidence that they need to authenticate her theory, so that Grantham can eventually break the story in his newspaper.
The cast of top class actors in this movie gives the action a great deal of credibility with Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington doing particularly well in showing how a bond of trust develops between their characters as they cope with a series of life-threatening situations as well as some other forms of adversity.
Overall, "The Pelican Brief" is an enjoyable movie with the requisite number of chases, shoot-outs and explosions etc and plenty of suspense. Its weakest quality though is its very deliberate pace which prevents it from achieving its potential in terms of excitement.
Following the assassinations of a couple of Supreme Court Justices, brilliant law student Darby Shaw (Julia Roberts) does some research into any possible similarities between the two men whose political allegiances were known to be very different. Based on her findings, she then writes a brief that outlines her theory about who was responsible for the murders and passes it to her Tulane University law professor Thomas Callahan (Sam Shepherd), who's also her lover. Callahan passes the brief on to his good friend and FBI lawyer Gavin Verheek (John Heard) who, in turn, passes it up through his chain of command.
Darby's brief implicates a very wealthy oil tycoon, the FBI and even the White House, so when Callahan is murdered, she suddenly realises that she's in great danger and goes on the run. In her predicament, it's difficult to know who she can trust, so when she contacts respected "Washington Herald" investigative journalist Clay Grantham (Denzel Washington) who, coincidentally had also been tipped off about the story by an anonymous caller who got cold feet before disclosing everything he knew. Darby and Grantham then team up to chase the evidence that they need to authenticate her theory, so that Grantham can eventually break the story in his newspaper.
The cast of top class actors in this movie gives the action a great deal of credibility with Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington doing particularly well in showing how a bond of trust develops between their characters as they cope with a series of life-threatening situations as well as some other forms of adversity.
Overall, "The Pelican Brief" is an enjoyable movie with the requisite number of chases, shoot-outs and explosions etc and plenty of suspense. Its weakest quality though is its very deliberate pace which prevents it from achieving its potential in terms of excitement.