I, the Jury

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Audience Member Film noir is a colorful piece of entertainment. It's not a great name for a genre since it doesn't exactly fit as a category. It's more fitting based on tone and attitude. These films are mostly set in the city with characters that are usually full of crap due to their suspicious nature. A P.I. (Private Investigator) or some type of detective or average Joe is usually having to solve the mystery of who died or where something went missing. On a story level, they're usually bleak and never have much of a happy ending. The 40s and mainly the 50s were rampant with these types of films. They were said to show the darker side of reality (or even Hollywood itself). In the city, nearing Christmas time, a one-armed man named Jack is shot dead. A friend, and also P.I., named Mike Hammer takes on the case. I'm not sure if Mike's last name is meant to represent a kind of sexual innuendo, but there always seemed to be some type of pun when some of the characters are delivering their dialogue to Mike. Also Mike never seemed like a P.I. to me. He felt more like a mobster. This could've been due to the overacting of Biff Elliott. He plays Mike very unconvincingly which was disappointing. Anyway, while on the case, Mike investigates a series of suspects on where to find Jack's killer. He meets with the likes of several suspicious characters (mainly female) until a big twist reveals who the killer is. I'll admit I was way off on who it was, but then again I checked my brain out long ago while watching. It just didn't capture my attention enough and I think I know why. It's just not too interesting, especially after you find out who it really is. This is a finely shot piece of film noir. Unfortunately, the story is too far fetched and the acting is atrocious. Even the direction is a bit silly at times with Christmas cards popping up into the frame to represent Christmas. Rated 2/5 Stars •  Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/21/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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