Today’s quick review: The Pelican Brief. Following the assassination of two Supreme Court justices, law student Darby Shaw (Julia Roberts) pieces together a theory about who is to blame. But when her report gets into the wrong hands, Shaw ends up running for her life from someone trying to silence her. Unsure of who to trust, Shaw turns to Washington Herald reporter Gray Grantham (Denzel Washington) to help her prove her theory.
The Pelican Brief is a thriller based on the novel by John Grisham. A young law student lands in the middle of a cover-up when her idle speculation on a pair of political assassinations hits the mark. The Pelican Brief follows Darby through several attempts on her life as she tries to deliver her story to Gray, a dogged and resourceful report. Solid plot work and an interesting hook give the movie legs, but it suffers from slow pacing.
The Pelican Brief’s best feature is its plot. The movie takes a fairly standard setup for a thriller—an innocent woman being targeted by unknown assailants—and grounds it in the specifics of the assassinations that kick off the plot. Lies, killers, political scandal, and a bombshell report all come together for a satisfying story. The Pelican Brief also features believable characters and a couple of clever twists.
But the complexity of its story is also a double-edged sword. Much of the tension comes from leaving the audience in the dark, so the movie does not even touch on the identity of the culprit, something known to most of the cast from the beginning, until its last third. The case also drags on too long. Well after the initial thrill wears off, The Pelican Brief is still throwing needless obstacles in Darby and Gray’s way.
The Pelican Brief is a fine pick for those interested in the weightier side of the thriller genre. The detailed setup of its story gives it a clearer identity than similar thrillers, but it also bogs the story down with extra tangents and little mysteries that do not contribute to the main plot. Give it a shot if you are willing to invest the effort to follow it until the end. Skip it if you are looking for more straightforward thrills.
For a legal drama adapted from a John Grisham novel, try The Rainmaker. For an action thriller about a conspiracy at the highest levels of government, try Shooter, Enemy of the State, or The Bourne Identity. For a classic thriller that gets at something similar, try Three Days of the Condor.
[6.6 out of 10 on IMDB](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107798/). I give it a 7.0 for solid characters and an interesting plot that drags on a little too long.