This underwhelming legal thriller is an efficient tale, with good performances. But it’s soullessly slick, fails to properly develop female characters and all feels meaningless
When the new miniseries Presumed Innocent, based on Scott Turow’s bestselling legal whodunnit, was announced, I scoffed. They made a film of that 10 minutes ago! Harrison Ford being gravelly, Bonnie Bedelia being overlooked, Greta Scacchi being a sex bomb. Except, of course, it turns out that it was 34 years ago. A lot of people in the audience now won’t know whodunnit.
Even so, I’m not sure this is a remake the world is crying out for. I’m not sure the world is crying out for any remakes of legal thrillers. The world would probably prefer original renderings of all kinds of new things. But I am not a commissioner or producer in need of the security of a proven intellectual property and so here we are.