MovieChat Forums > A Civil Action (1999) Discussion > Whats wrong with this film? Mind bogglin...

Whats wrong with this film? Mind boggling.

posted 8 years ago by magtroll
2 replies | jump to latest

How come this wasnt recieved better by the critics? I've watched this film a couple of times but not recently. I remmeber so many wonderful and heartbreking scenes, like Macy buying lottery tickets to save the firm or Schlitman being pulled over so many times or Gandolfini with a wonderful performance telling how the water never tasted OK there. I remmeber the brilliantly written beggining, where Travolta is explaining how much an injury is worth. I loved the structure, I loved how long and almost epic in this was.

Having said that, I DONT remmber what made this not a masterpiece it could have been. Was it the overlong second part, where the Duvall character spoils it a bit. The anti climactic ending?

This novel was a masterpiece and Zallian did a wonderful job, I dont know what failed here.

Im just mind boggled by the reception of films like this and Contact, theyre just brilliant yet they barely get 70 on rottentomates. These are huge constructs and deserve to be seen again.

Debate!

[–] SteveG (1370) 2 years ago

I think the abrupt ending hurt it badly. It felt like it needed another half hour for the ending to be properly fleshed out. It left me feeling unsatisfied.

[–] PrimeMinisterX (8824) 5 months ago

I watched the film last night for the first time since I originally watched it about 25 years ago. I agree that the ending is abrupt. I did not recall how it ended and I also felt unsatisfied, but I think that's largely because, as the viewer, I want to see a dramatic court battle with a hard-fought victory for the plaintiffs. We don't get that here and instead the film ends with our protagonist largely defeated and punting the case to the EPA in the hopes that they can do what he was unable to do. But I think it's important to remember here that the film is based on true events and there's only so much dramatic license that can be reasonably taken.

I suppose the film maybe could've spent some time on exactly what happened once the EPA really took an interest in the case but perhaps the director felt like that would need a movie of its own to really dive into.

All that said, I do think that overall it's quite a solid film with an outstanding cast, and an above-average courtroom drama. It should be remembered as one of Travolta's better films but instead it's mostly forgotten.