"The Chamber" tanked at the Box Office when it was released back in '96 due to critics' negative reaction and it was even bashed by the author of the novel himself, John Grisham, who called it a "disaster".
Well, i don't know if it was Grisham's genuine feelings about the film or he was just jumping in the bandwagon of badmouthing this, for saving himself to earn more millions from Hollywood for the next screen adaptation of one of his works.
"The Chamber" isn't by all means a great movie or even one of the best Grisham's adaptations, but it's much better than the bad reputation it got then and still have over the years.
Some reviewers here wrote about "major" differences from the book to the screen, but as far as i read the majority of it, they're just picking on the movie, because nothing of them are noteworthy, and about EVERY movie adaptation from the literary world, it change certain aspects from the plot and / or the characters for the storytelling suit the big screen better.
James Foley (who helm'd the vastly underrated dark teen drama, "Reckless"; the splendid crime / thriller, "At Close Range" or the superb drama film adapted from Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning play, "Glengarry Glen Ross") knows how to handle social dramas of this kind, approaching dark subjects on the human condition, awareness and behavior and "The Chamber" is a competent exercise on that.
Gene Hackman delivers here one of his best performances from the 90's as the hateful bigot, Sam Cayhall, which deserved more recognition and Chris O'Donnel, playing his rookie lawyer and grandson who's advocating him, isn't bland here, in fact, he's solid, looking more mature in his acting and showing how he learned since working with Pacino in "Scent of a Woman".
Faye Dunaway is a bit 'out' in her acting, going over-the-top in every scene and being just 11 years younger than Hackman and looking every year of it, it looks implausible the father / daughter kinship.
The rest of the cast was given almost nothing to do (some appears in tiny roles such as Robert Prosky), but perform the best they could out of it, especially Raymond J. Barry in a memorable turn as the vicious Klansman.
In short, "The Chamber" is worth a watch for fans of Grisham's big screen adaptations and 'death row" flicks such as "Dead Man Walking" ('95) or "Stephen King's The Green Mile" ('99).
I give it a solid 7.5 !!
"The Chamber" isn't by all means a great movie or even one of the best Grisham's adaptations, but it's much better than the bad reputation it got then and still have over the years.
Some reviewers here wrote about "major" differences from the book to the screen, but as far as i read the majority of it, they're just picking on the movie, because nothing of them are noteworthy, and about EVERY movie adaptation from the literary world, it change certain aspects from the plot and / or the characters for the storytelling suit the big screen better.
James Foley (who helm'd the vastly underrated dark teen drama, "Reckless"; the splendid crime / thriller, "At Close Range" or the superb drama film adapted from Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning play, "Glengarry Glen Ross") knows how to handle social dramas of this kind, approaching dark subjects on the human condition, awareness and behavior and "The Chamber" is a competent exercise on that.
Gene Hackman delivers here one of his best performances from the 90's as the hateful bigot, Sam Cayhall, which deserved more recognition and Chris O'Donnel, playing his rookie lawyer and grandson who's advocating him, isn't bland here, in fact, he's solid, looking more mature in his acting and showing how he learned since working with Pacino in "Scent of a Woman".
Faye Dunaway is a bit 'out' in her acting, going over-the-top in every scene and being just 11 years younger than Hackman and looking every year of it, it looks implausible the father / daughter kinship.
The rest of the cast was given almost nothing to do (some appears in tiny roles such as Robert Prosky), but perform the best they could out of it, especially Raymond J. Barry in a memorable turn as the vicious Klansman.
In short, "The Chamber" is worth a watch for fans of Grisham's big screen adaptations and 'death row" flicks such as "Dead Man Walking" ('95) or "Stephen King's The Green Mile" ('99).
I give it a solid 7.5 !!