Presumed Innocent
Summary
The prospect of David E. Kelley adapting Scott Turow ’s courtroom thriller novel makesPresumed Innocentan beguiling prospect , but lamentably it betray to pitch . As with Kelley ’s recent Netflix showA Man in Full , the AppleTV+ drama draws comparisons with the media circus surrounding former president and convicted felon , Donald Trump . presume Innocentcenters on a politically motivated trial driven by marital infidelity and familiarity , meaning that the show ’s June 12 premier date could n’t be intimately placed to tap into the zeitgeist .
Cast
Presumed Innocentcenters on hotshot prosecutor Rusty Sabich ( Jake Gyllenhaal , who is also executive manufacturer ) , whose life is overturned when he ’s accused of the brutal slaying of his mistress , and fellow prosecutor , Carolyn Polhemus ( Renate Reinsve ) . As the showrunner who give us Graeco-Roman court prove likeAlly McBealandBoston Legal , Kelley might have been the idealistic person to adjust Turow ’s legal thriller into an eight - part miniseries , but that ’s not the finding of fact that I came to after consider .
Presumed Innocent Abandons Courtroom Intrigue For Domestic Strife
Ally McBealandBoston Legalproved that Kelley is a writer and showrunner who can equilibrize the high play of a court battle with the mundaneness of everyday life . However , Presumed Innocentgets the balance all wrong . That ’s because its focus incline more toward the aspects of Kelley ’s other labor , Big Little LiesandThe untying , shows about inner families deal with atrocious horrors . Turow ’s novel had element of that , but it was a more compelling story about corruption in our effectual institution . Kelley ’s family - focused adjustment therefore miss what madePresumed Innocentsuch a compulsive read .
Presumed Innocentties itself in knots seek to give Rusty ’s married woman Barbara ( Ruth Negga ) a compelling arc of her own .
WhenPresumed Innocentshould be rivet on Rusty ’s lawyer ramp up their defence against the prosecution ’s circumstantial evidence , it ceaselessly circulate back to remind us that his family have n’t forgive him for having an affair . Given thatPresumed Innocentwas written in 1987 , the discourse of woman in the novel descend across as dated . So while it ’s understandable that a modern , reformist adaptation would attempt to redress this , the seriesties itself in knots trying to give Rusty ’s wife Barbara ( Ruth Negga ) a compelling arc of her own .
Presumed Innocentwas antecedently adapted as a 1990 characteristic film asterisk Harrison Ford as Rusty Sabich .
By expanding the function of Rusty ’s family , the show terminate up being unfocussed and meandering . As an adaptation , Presumed Innocentstruggles to decide if it wants to tell the history of how the charge against Rusty affect his folk , or if it want to center on the former prosecutor fight back his life . There ’s a compelling mystery story at the heart of the fib , but it ’s drowned out by the scene of domesticated strife that Kelley had antecedently done better inBig Little Lies .
Jake Gyllenhaal Makes It Hard To Presume Innocence
presume Innocentisa star fomite for Jake Gyllenhaal , but his public presentation lacks the ambiguity the show needs . Gyllenhaal plays Rusty with a degree of barely conceal rage and , on occasion , outright venom and vicious choler . It ’s therefore hard for an audience to disunite Rusty ’s darker outbursts from the presumption of ingenuousness . Disappointingly , Presumed Innocentnever develops that conflict in a meaningful agency , asthe scripts rarely give Gyllenhaal a chance to showcase Rusty ’s duality by highlighting his more sympathetic characteristics .
Only the first seven episodes ofPresumed Innocenthave been provide for review , which mean we do n’t recognize whether Rusty did it or not .
This is n’t to say that Gyllenhall gives a bad performance . Rusty ’s obsession with Carolyn , secern through flashback and plan to entail he mangle her in a fit of passion , is deeply uncomfortable to look on . A standout picture late in the series shows variations on Rusty and Carolyn ’s last interaction , and Gyllenhaal subtly change his tone and strong-arm mannerisms to reflect Rusty ’s fractured recall .
Gyllenhaal is also howling in the scenes opposite his nemesis , the slimy prosecutor Tommy Molto ( Peter Sarsgaard ) , and their adversarial interactions help to prove the idea that it ’s trivial rivalry , rather than conclusive evidence , driving Rusty ’s prosecution . Gyllenhaal also has strong chemistry with Bill Camp ’s Raymond Horgan , Rusty ’s mentor and defense pleader . Raymond ’s disappointment in Rusty is tangible , and Gyllenhaal tempers his performance to be more vulnerable in these scenes , hinting that there ’s at least one person that Rusty feels big for betraying .
Presumed Innocent Is At Its Best In The Courtroom
It’s when this legal drama truly shines
The strongest scenes inPresumed Innocentare those relating to Rusty ’s run , describe the back - and - away conversations between the defense and prosecutionin the lead - up to going before a jury . The political exchange are compelling to watch thanks to the four central performances of Gyllenhaal , Camp , Sarsgaard , and O - T Fagbenle ( The Handsmaid ’s Tale ) . Noma Dumezweni is fantabulous as Judge Lyttle , keeping the piddling squabbling of the play off pleader in halt . Negga also gets her best scene in the show when Barbara explain why she wo n’t play along with the doting wife do that the defense counselor-at-law has requested .
… despite how grip the testimonies and cross - examination scene are , Presumed Innocentcan’t resist manufacturing more melodramatic fanfare .
It ’s frustrating , therefore , thatPresumed Innocentdoesn’t rate more trust in the courtroom scenes to carry the bulk of the drama . It takes until episode 6 for the trial run to kick off in earnest , and despite how grip the testimonies and fussy - examination scenes are , the Apple TV+ seriescan’t resist manufacturing more histrionic flourishes . The cliffhanger ending in episode 6 is a particularly glaring example of a flash electric shock that only serves to undermine what was ultimately becoming a compelling courtroom drama .
Presumed Innocentis anchored by strong performance across the board , and has some electric trial scene between its opposing attorneys . But its main problem is that it ca n’t decide whether it wants to be an erotic thriller about obsession and desire , a domesticated play about infidelity and dark secrets , or a courtroom cabal drama . The novel and the original Harrison Ford movie managed to cockle these element together in a cohesive path . alas for Kelley ’s adaption ofPresumed Innocent , the links between these three component are circumstantial at best .
Presumed Innocentpremieres with episode 1 & 2 on AppleTV+ on June 12th .
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Starring Gyllenhaal in the lead role of principal surrogate prosecutor Rusty Sabich , the serial publication take viewing audience on a grip journey through the awful murder that upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorney ’s office when one of its own is suspected of the crime .
