Based on the novel by John Grisham, Runaway Jury, is a courtroom drama. The movie is all about a jury consultant Rankin Fitch (Gene Hackman ), a ruthless man who  tries to guarantee a friendly panel for the defendant. According to Fitch " A trial is too important to be left up to juries ".

It is a landmark lawsuit that involves a pretty young widow (Joanna Going) who is suing a gun manufacturer because her husband was one of nine people killed in an office massacre by a co-worker with an easily obtained gun. The gun manufacturer is defended by a lawyer Durwood Cable (Bruce Davison ), and the widow has hired Wendell Rohr (Dustin Hoffman ) to represent her. Fitch has been hired and financed by the gun

industry to put together a jury that favor his employer. Fitch works with high tech equipments and fiddle around with the private lives of the people in the jury pool in order to come up a with a favourable jury.

But, there is one juror even he couldn't track- a seemingly laid back videogame store clerk enacted by John Cusack who plays his own game. He demonstrates immense influence in the case, even to the extend of removing one panelist and cooks up a conspiracy with his girlfriend Rachel Weisz and demands 10 million dollars from the lawyers to swing the jury in favor of whichever party pays him off.

The movie shows how easily juries can be manipulated and there is no such thing as impartial jury. No wonder, the theme of jury tampering is always popular. Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman although he doest have a meaty role, have presented their usual flawless performance. John Cusack and Rachel Weisz leaves an impact. It is a good story and a fast paced thriller. the director suceeds in keepin up the pace till the end.

We highly recommend you to go and see it.