Juror No. 2 (2024) * * *

Directed by:  Clint Eastwood

Starring:  Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, JK Simmons, Zoey Deutch, Kiefer Sutherland, Leslie Bibb, Gabriel Basso, Chris Messina

What is likely director Clint Eastwood's final feature film is not a courtroom drama masterpiece, but it hums along with suspense and a feeling that the vise is tightening on Justin Kemp (Hoult), a freelance writer who is summoned for jury duty on a murder case.  He'd rather be home caring for his pregnant wife Allison (Deutch), who miscarried with her previous pregnancy and this led to a dark and rainy night in which Justin, a recovering alcoholic, finds himself staring at a shot of whiskey in a local bar.  He doesn't drink, but he drives home and strikes something in the road.  He assumes it to be a deer and moves on, especially when he doesn't see any deer.  

Fast forward to the trial.  Justin fails to be excused from the jury and is now sitting in judgment of a local man (Basso), who is accused of murdering his wife after she leaves the same bar on the same night Justin was there.  The man and wife have an argument and she leaves to walk home in the rain.  Did Justin accidentally run over the woman and not a deer?  His mind flashes back to that night and because he never found a dead deer or person, he doesn't know.  His conscience gnaws at him.  If he comes forward now to save the defendant, then he'll be charged and taken from his family.  Other jurors and soon prosecutor Faith Killebrew (Collette) suspect the possibility that maybe the defendant didn't do it and follow other possible leads, which force Justin's hand.

Juror No. 2 is straight out of John Grisham territory, even though it's not based on any of his works.  It feels like a movie based on a Grisham novel, and that's not a bad thing.  Hoult is a sympathetic protagonist who finds himself in a mess caused by being picked for the wrong jury and the wrong case at the wrong time.  Eastwood also provides a Hitchcock-like feel to the film, in which the hero finds himself in an ethical dilemma which we find ourselves hoping he gets away with...to some extent.  It's not anything that aspires to greatness, but it's a fitting and effective possible final film for the iconic Eastwood, who found as much success directing as he did acting.   But who knows?  He may have one more left in him, even at 95.