Top notch performances for a legal drama that doesn't seem realistic in any manner, featuring a sexy killer (Kevin Bacon) who has gotten away with murder once and wants to get away with it again and again and again. Thanks to troubled attorney Gary Oldman, Bacon was able to get acquitted to what he joked about as the disposable diaper theory. Bacon continues to brutally torture and kill women, burning one to death so badly that there seems to be no way of even identifying her, and even goes after Oldman's troubled ex-girlfriend, Karen Young. A vicious killer must have a memorable overly possessive mother, and that comes in the form of British horror star Elizabeth Shephard ("The Tomb of Ligeia"/"Damien: Omen II") who absolutely resents Oldman's doubting of her precious baby boy.
I enjoyed this as a melodramatic psychological thriller, absurd in so many ways yet mesmerizing. Oldman has that rubbery face that can contort at will, and he's great in a drunk scene where he celebrates the victory that has saved his law career. Tess Harper is another plus as his police detective confidante/adviser, her determined character one of the better realistic elements of a screenplay that gets weirder and weirder thanks to convoluted direction and trying to outwit the audience who catches on quickly to how preposterous this all is. But I considered it fascinating to watch for all its glorious badness thanks to compelling stars and shear audacity to where all I could think was, "Oh no, they didn't."
I enjoyed this as a melodramatic psychological thriller, absurd in so many ways yet mesmerizing. Oldman has that rubbery face that can contort at will, and he's great in a drunk scene where he celebrates the victory that has saved his law career. Tess Harper is another plus as his police detective confidante/adviser, her determined character one of the better realistic elements of a screenplay that gets weirder and weirder thanks to convoluted direction and trying to outwit the audience who catches on quickly to how preposterous this all is. But I considered it fascinating to watch for all its glorious badness thanks to compelling stars and shear audacity to where all I could think was, "Oh no, they didn't."