A man against capital punishment is accused of murdering a fellow activist and is sent to death row.
Acting
Spacey commits fully to Gale's slippery sanctimony.
Direction
Parker wrings every drop of sweaty Texas dread.
Writing
The script thinks it's smarter than it is — debate it anyway.
Director
Alan Parker
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Spacey and Winslet both took massive pay cuts to work with Parker; the film was Alan Parker's final directorial effort before his 2020 death.
The film's release coincided with growing 2000s skepticism of capital punishment, though critics savaged its 'gotcha' ending as exploitative rather than profound.
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters
US
GB
