Derrick Gibbons
An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Asad Almond
A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.
Sanjeev Waters
A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.
meldada
Read the book by one of the finest director's in the business, Sidney Lumet. It's called Making Movies and reading it made me want to see everything this man did. You want to learn about making a picture, read this and it will fill you in. This film I never knew about until I read the book and am thankful I did before I died. It has it all. First and foremost the performances. Everyone is committed to the best that they can do. Although Van Diesel is not the greatest actor, I don't care, because I believed him. The story is entertaining and perfectly paced and wonderful. The all important themes, Loyalty and love are defined. An exquisitely crafted movie and the story is true. Amazing to say the least. Everything is pitch perfect. The camera angles, the lighting the performances, the script. The whole thing hangs together like a good Swiss pocket watch.
Gabriel Teixeira
'Find me Guilty' recounts the story of the longest Mafia trial of US's history, the judgment of the Lucchese crime family. In particular, Jack DiNorscio (played by Vin Diesel), who refused to rat on his partners and defended himself in the trial.Very well directed and made, with most of the dialogue taken directly from the trial's transcripts, 'Find me Guilty' finds Sidney Lumet back to the familiar territory of courtroom drama. Despite being overly long (maybe as an attempt to recreate the overly length of the trial itself), the film profits from a surprising turn from Vin Diesel, whom I never thought could be believable as a serious actor, and a very convincing cast for the other gangsters.It is no surprise that Sidney Lumet, who previously did great courtrooms like '12 Angry Men' and 'The Verdict', directed this. He was a very good director, and the direction was never a weakness of his films.However, just like in those two, Lumet once again takes a chance to attack the legal system.Lumet once again vilifies the legal system as 'a system that offends common sense' (like a famous critic said). However, whereas the other mentioned films find a way to work well to validate such criticism, Lumet seems to have finally thrown discretion away in 'Find me Guilty', where he makes real criminals seem like innocent guys unjustly victimized by the system (something he also did before in other films like 'Dog Day Afternoon').Yes, they truly did end up with a 'not guilty' verdict and the courtroom dialogue is true, but Lumet goes out of his way to show the gangsters as nice guys and manipulates the viewer into sympathizing with them; the non-courtroom dialogue, for example, which is created for the film. How can one twist things in such a way, using REAL CRIMINALS as if they were innocents as a way to condemn the LAW SYSTEM for going against them?The real good gangster films, like 'The Godfather' trilogy or Scorsese's, never try to show them as 'nice guys' like Lumet does here!Moreover, the district attorney is shown as an evil, almost sadistic person who is impossible to like. The ludicrous attack by the defense, implying or outright saying that the trial is nothing but a waste of the taxpayer's money (a point Lumet seems to reinforce) and the focus on how weak the evidence was only further show how terribly biased Lumet is.This is easily the last nail in the coffin of Lumet's morality. His obsession with making criminals seem like good guys, and law enforcers seem bad, always made me suspect him of having a questionable sense of morality (to say the least). 'Find me Guilty' truly proves his guilt.It is a good film from a technical standpoint, with very good acting and directing. As any gangster film, it is never truly bad to watch. However, its terrible message keeps me from enjoying it fully or giving it a good rating.
ashwilly11
I have never seen Vin look so handsome. I thought I liked the bald look, but I was wrong. His receding hairline has never looked so good. He has truly transformed himself for his work, and I admire that. I really enjoyed the diversity of the movie...Italians, midgets, lawyers, etc. It really brought things together. I feel I better understand the Italian culture and I have Vin to thank for that. After watching this movie, I definitely plan on holding out for a true Italian. How do you know they are a true Italian...they carry a flag around with them. Girls, if you have't dated or been with an Italian, I recommend you do.Jackie D doesn't rat...
alexkolokotronis
Great performance by Vin Diesel in here. I always just thought of him as an actor who did not have the ability to take on a non-action leading role. Wow did he prove me wrong here. Find Me Guilty was really a revelation in itself and for Diesel.The acting like I just said was great from Vin Diesel. Diesel has shown in the past some great supporting performances. With this movie he clearly showed that he can give a real acting performance. The way he displayed his character as a loud mouth, slick talking mafia man was just so genuine and real. He made me laugh every five minutes and still was able to draw me into the movie as a serious character. The supporting performances were nice here to from Peter Dinklage and Alex Rocco.The directing was very good if not great as well. When it comes to any film involving court Sidney Lumet is the man who should direct it. This is the man who directed 12 Angry Men and The Verdict which are probably the two of the top five court movies ever. This time though he is able to perfectly balance the comedy and drama of this movie to make this film very engaging and exciting to watch. Sidney Lumet once again proves to me at least why he is one of the most creative and best movie directors ever.The writing was perfect for this movie. In a way the movie was making fun of itself which is always nice to see in these type of comedies. Together with Diesel the writing made for some many laugh-out-loud scenes. Sidney Lumet with his directing and writing really is able to show that a real-life courtroom drama can realistically funny too.My advice is to definitely watch this movie if you have not. It is not a superficial meaningless movie and believe it or not is a little inspiring. Creativity in movies at its best.
