I absolutely adore crime dramas and if it’s set in the courtroom that’s even better because you always have the two sides battling out against one another, and only you as the audience member can truly figure out and find out what actually happened. They’re an on the edge of your seat kind of dramas and I absolutely adore them.

The Whole Truth follows a young man called Mike who is on trial for killing his father who was abusive to his mother as well as supposedly him too. His lawyer Ramsey, played by Keanu Reeves, finds it very hard to connect with the boy because of his connection to the family and the father himself and it’s as we watch the film that more is revealed not only in terms of the family life but also the reasons why the father got killed and who actually did it in the end.

What I love about these sorts of dramas is that there’s always twists and turns and so you go in thinking ‘maybe the son did kill him’ but then you think that’s too obvious and cut and dry, so maybe it was his mother and he’s covering for her but then again what would her reasoning be for wanting her husband dead? And then we actually find out the twists in the end which is neither of these which I think will entice people to watch even more, and it is a fantastic twist that I did not see coming but very much appreciated and enjoyed.

Because there’s only a few sets for this film it’s very claustrophobic in a way because you always feel close to the action and like you are being pulled from location to location with no air and no space to get away. You’re either at the crime scene, in the courtroom, or just outside the courtroom so it’s intimate and tight and as you get to know the characters too they’re really interesting and just makes that intimacy feel so much stronger.

The mother is played by Renee Zellweger who was absolutely perfect in her role, but because of the work she’s had done on her face I didn’t recognise her straight away, but watching her perform here was brilliant and she really suited the character that she was given. I found the father character absolutely perfect, the actor fit his role perfectly and it really did make you as an audience member despise him too and you really had no sympathy for him and his death.

If you want a great courtroom drama with really interesting characters, fantastic actors and a whole scenario that makes everything feel so intimate and close knit then I definitely recommend this film because it’s a really easy watch, and you will be hooked from start to finish as things are revealed.

What do you think of The Whole Truth?

Until next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding