Film Review: MISTRIAL (1996) *** and a 1\2 out of *****

(C) HBO/WB.

Back in the 1990s, HBO was the cable channel. It exuded class and daring, with its ability to attract top-notch Hollywood talent, in front and behind the camera, by offering filmmakers creative freedom and good budgets. These “HBO Originals”, mostly features and mini-series, offered the average viewer some of the most original and eclectic programming on TV. It was Netflix before Netflix. It was "Prestige TV" before the term was even coined.

Mistrial (1996) written and directed by filmmaker, novelist, and all around renaissance man Heywood Gould, and starring Bill Pullman in one of his best roles, is, to some extent, a case in point.

The plot (from Gould's official site): An angry cop literally kidnaps a court proceeding in a desperate bid for justice. Eddie Rios stands accused of the murder of two police officers, but he’s found not guilty due to a lack of proper evidence. Steve Donohue, the detective who brought Rios in, is outraged by this decision, and in a burst of anger he pulls his gun and holds the defendant, the judge, and the jury hostage, demanding they immediately retry Rios, with Donohue presenting evidence he was forbidden to show the jury due to legal technicalities.

It's a melodramatic high-concept, and Gould provides all involved, especially John Seda as Rios, and Robert Loggia as the police captain, ample opportunity to shine. But it's Bill Pullman as Donahue, a cop at the end of his rope, who pulls the whole thing together, with a performance that is nothing short of a career highlight. Although Gould tries to keep things gritty and even-handed, his direction is too staid, too flavorless for its own good. Still, Pullman overcomes the faults in the writing and directing, playing off an invested Seda, who takes a thankless role and imbues it with enough gravitas and pathos to make it palatable.

While the final twist isn't much of a revelation, and many of Gould's technical choices leave something to be desired, Mistrial mostly works because of Pullman, and a script that dares to ask uncomfortable questions about what it takes to maintain law and order, and the problem of criminals hiding behind political correctness and public sentiment. And, most of all, Mistrial doesn't pander, to anyone. Something HBO and other major Hollywood players seem to be doing a lot of these days.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2022.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. He is also the host of The Dark Fantastic Podcast. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @DFantasticPodcast