Andy Garcia plays Sean Casey a lawyer turned District Attorney who is tasked with prosecuting the man that was responsible for shooting his father Liam Casey (Ian Holm) after Casey and his partner Joey Allegretto (James Gandolfini) attempt to arrest drug king pin Jordan Washington (Sheik Mahmud-Bey). However at Washington's trial he reveals some home truths about police corruption which makes this case not quite as open and shut as Casey anticipated.
I think a major problem with a film like Night Falls on Manhattan is that it has such an explosive opening that it's almost inevitable that everything that follows is going to be an anti-climax. The start of the film where the police are chasing Washington was very entertaining - although his actual escape was rather questionable to me. Then we have the trial of Jordan Washington which again was compelling and helped to establish the plot. It perhaps also helped that Mahmud-Bey was great fun to watch during the trial. Despite how good this aspect of the film was this still brought about some problems....
We're told that Casey Jr will be prosecuting the man who shot his father even though he's never worked on a big case before. OK, in the 'real' world this would be a difficult enough task in itself, but Casey Jr is emotionally involved in this trial which would make prosecuting Washington much more difficult. I think it might have been more believable if Casey Jr were to show some emotion or get upset during the trial which would be a believable character trait given the circumstances. Despite the fact that this aspect of the film entertained me I struggled to find Casey Jr's character to be believable.
The film really falls flat on its face after Washington's trial where we're left with about 55 minutes of divulging through all of the elements of police corruption, a ridiculous, bland and unconvincing romance. The police corruption aspect is interesting in itself, but Lumet seemed to offer very little commentary on the subject and with virtually nothing driving the film in the second half it does become quite dull and tedious.
As far as performances go it's really down to Garcia to carry the film and in this respect he's only partly successful; when tough-talking is required he's great, but he shows very little vulnerability and wasn't great in scenes that require him to show emotion. Gandolfini and Holm were good in the screen time that they were given. Mahmud-Bey wasn't given much to do, but he was fun during the trial. Leibman was by the far the worst offender and his over-acting was unbearable for the most part.
I don't want to pan this film too much as I appreciate and respect that Lumet was trying to explain that not everything in life is 'black and white' and that sometimes those that are meant to uphold and enforce the law can invariably be worse than those that are on trial, but sadly this only really hits home at the end. As far as I'm concerned everything from the end of the trial to the final 5 minutes were nothing more than boredom and tedium.
I think a major problem with a film like Night Falls on Manhattan is that it has such an explosive opening that it's almost inevitable that everything that follows is going to be an anti-climax. The start of the film where the police are chasing Washington was very entertaining - although his actual escape was rather questionable to me. Then we have the trial of Jordan Washington which again was compelling and helped to establish the plot. It perhaps also helped that Mahmud-Bey was great fun to watch during the trial. Despite how good this aspect of the film was this still brought about some problems....
We're told that Casey Jr will be prosecuting the man who shot his father even though he's never worked on a big case before. OK, in the 'real' world this would be a difficult enough task in itself, but Casey Jr is emotionally involved in this trial which would make prosecuting Washington much more difficult. I think it might have been more believable if Casey Jr were to show some emotion or get upset during the trial which would be a believable character trait given the circumstances. Despite the fact that this aspect of the film entertained me I struggled to find Casey Jr's character to be believable.
The film really falls flat on its face after Washington's trial where we're left with about 55 minutes of divulging through all of the elements of police corruption, a ridiculous, bland and unconvincing romance. The police corruption aspect is interesting in itself, but Lumet seemed to offer very little commentary on the subject and with virtually nothing driving the film in the second half it does become quite dull and tedious.
As far as performances go it's really down to Garcia to carry the film and in this respect he's only partly successful; when tough-talking is required he's great, but he shows very little vulnerability and wasn't great in scenes that require him to show emotion. Gandolfini and Holm were good in the screen time that they were given. Mahmud-Bey wasn't given much to do, but he was fun during the trial. Leibman was by the far the worst offender and his over-acting was unbearable for the most part.
I don't want to pan this film too much as I appreciate and respect that Lumet was trying to explain that not everything in life is 'black and white' and that sometimes those that are meant to uphold and enforce the law can invariably be worse than those that are on trial, but sadly this only really hits home at the end. As far as I'm concerned everything from the end of the trial to the final 5 minutes were nothing more than boredom and tedium.