Anyone who has never seen a thriller, a court drama, a story about serial killers, an anti-death penalty plot, scenery being gobbled by Ed Harris, the Everglades, or a movie unsure enough of itself that it has to front load the whole thing with a bunch of big and medium names will find Just Cause absolutely riveting.Oh, JC wasn't bad (except for Sean Connery looking a bit bewildered). In my head I started listing off movies I've seen that Just Cause copies. I only got frustrated with this derivative thing when Kate Capshaw drives a car over a draw bridge, the car hits hard, the air bags stay put, and the car goes on its merry way with no discernible damage.Just Cause works because it doesn't stretch our credulity, but that was a sloppy and stupid moment, and it didn't help. If you've got 102 minutes to blow, and you don't have any problem with the plot and the language and gore and the we've-seen-this-before, you have a movie night in store.

Bobby Earl is facing the electric chair for the murder of a young girl. Eight years after the crime he calls in Paul Armstrong, a professor of law, to help prove his innocence. Armstrong quickly uncovers some overlooked evidence to present to the local police, but they aren't interested - Bobby was their killer......Its strange to think that Connery had very few films left in him when this was released, there were a few prolific ones, The Rock, LXG, Entrapment, but it's really strange that he decided to this, because he doesn't really add anything to the film.Its Fishbourne, and a brilliant Harris, that make this film standout, and compared to them, Connery is left in the stands watching the world go by,which is a shame, because he's usually a wonderful screen presence.The plot reminds one of those slow burning Bayou thrillers of old, everyone's sweating, wiping their faces, and hiding secrets from one another.But for the most part, its Connery approaching different characters, asking for his motivation, and then ringing up Kate Capshaw to have an argument.The final third involves a car chase, crocodiles, and Scarlett Johanssen, but by the time the big twist is revealed, you feel cheated because its basically turned the twist onto a 360, if you would.Watchable, but pointless, Harris is wonderful...

My problem with Just Cause is this: I didn't get a clear understanding as to why Bobby Earl (Blair Underwood) becomes a cold-blooded child killer.Oh yes, Fishburne's character, Sheriff Brown, states that Bobby Earl is "bad," but Sheriff Brown never tells us why. He just has a "feeling." We do learn via dialogue, not action or backstory, that when Bobby Earl was a boy, he was taken from Newark and his drug-addicted mamma and sent to live with his Grandmother in Florida. Is the viewer supposed to surmise that Bobby Earl is bad because he lived in Newark with a drug-addicted mother? If we have to fill in the blanks, then the writer has done a poor job telling his story. Not all kids who live in Newark with drug-addicted parents grow up "bad." Then the other problem I had was when Bobby Earl reveals that he's been castrated. I thought men – like animals – become more docile without their nuts. Yet, after being castrated, Bobby Earl rapes (doesn't leave semen) and viciously fillets a young white girl.I'm no psych major, but Bobby Earl's actions just don't add up; maybe because the writer failed to give us an intelligent equation.

Happened to catch this on cable a few nights ago, and it's pretty much a cable-caliber movie. Ed Harris and Laurence Fishburne turn in great performances, while Sean Connery is, well, Sean Connery. Not bad or anything, just pretty much the same as he always is. Certain actors just seem pretty much the same regardless of what role they play, and at least for me, Connery is one of them.The story has numerous twists and turns in it, but they're all of the kind you can see coming a long way away. I didn't mark spoilers so I won't give any, but I'll just say that really nothing caught me by surprise, and I think they were supposed to be big, jaw-dropping surprises. They weren't, and that leaves the performances to be the merit of the film. The performances were, on the whole, pretty good, so I'd say the film is worth watching, but don't run to go see it - it'll be on cable again soon enough.