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Primal Fear

(2,867)IMDb 7.72 h 10 min1996X-RayR

A flashy attorney takes on the sensational case of an altar boy accused of murdering a priest - an all-star cast shines in a twisting, suspenseful mystery. With Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, John Mahoney.

Directors: Gregory Hoblit

Starring: Terry O'quinn Richard Gere Laura Linney

Genres: Drama Suspense

Subtitles: English [CC]

Audio languages: EnglishEnglish [Audio Description]

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Supporting actors: Edward Norton John Mahoney Alfre Woodard Frances McDormand Terry O'Quinnmore…Andre BraugherSteven BauerJoe SpanoTony PlanaStanley AndersonMaura TierneyJon Seda

Producers: Gary Lucchesi Robert McMinn

Studio: PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Rating: R (Restricted)

Content advisory: Drug usefoul languagenuditysexual contentviolence

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Customer reviews

5 star		80%
4 star		14%
3 star		4%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Enjoyable due to the powerful acting

Reviewed in the United States on November 17, 2019

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The story is your typical murder suspect, church sex scandals, courtroom drama, but what made this so enjoyable is the plot within it. There are numerous twists and turns that make this riveting. What elevates the material even more is the incredible acting specifically between Richard Gere, Laura Linney, and Edward Norton. Edward Norton's performance the most powerful showing that you can be a newcomer actor with no real film experience and dominate the show.

Edward is in a league of his own up there with some of the greats like Jodie Foster. I saw this when it first came out as one of my friends had worked on this film. And I remember him telling me the lead new actor is incredible. He said this Edward Norton guy came into the audition talking to everyone with this accent. They all assumed he was from Kentucky, then after he was cast they later discovered he had brilliantly fooled them in the audition room, because he doesn't really talk like that. He's a Yale graduate wordy intellectual. This only further cemented the brilliance of Edward Norton who went onto star in other amazing films giving his expected intense and awesome performance.

Regardless that he's one of the many amazing actors in cinema history, this is one of the many must see films of his.

13 people found this helpful

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leo

Still fell for it!

Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2018

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Maaaaan! Even after knowing the ending, I still fell for it. Ed Norton is so good in this and the case so compelling it's mesmerizing.
No fluff or filler. Solid story and the cast is incredible.

23 people found this helpful

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ChicGeek

MOVIE: 5+ • VIDEO: 4.3 • AUDIO: 4.4

Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2017

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FORMAT: Blu-Ray
UPC: 8-83929-30112-6
RELEASED: 2009-05-10

TITLE: Primal Fear (1996) • R • 2:10:28
Richard Gere, Laura Linney, John Mahoney, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Alfre Woodard, Maura Tierney, Andre Braugher, Steven Bauer
Gregory Hoblit (Director)

The movie that made Edward Norton a star (well, made him somewhat more widely known, anyway). This movie is the kind of intelligent, well written, well acted and well made adult drama that you rarely see anymore. It relies on its story and the performances of its actors to keep you engaged — and, it does an excellent job on both fronts in achieving the goal of having you on the edge of your seat for the entire movie. As fine an example of psychological/courtroom drama as you will ever see (and, yet another vivid example of things NOT being as they appear). HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

See the other reviews for more detail and/or other opinions regarding the plot of the movie.

VIDEO: 1.78:1 • Color • 1080p • MPEG-4 AVC (34.1 Mbps)

Mostly, the images in this movie are fairly sharp, and they have decent shadow detail. They also feature richly saturated colors in most of the outdoor daylight scenes and muted colors in most of the indoor and nighttime scenes. However, the entire film appeared ever-so-slightly soft, and lacking in fine detail — as was evident in many of the close-ups of faces and clothing (I can't tell if this "slight" softness is due to the original film stock and lens or to some deficiency in the transfer — though, I suspect, it is due to the source elements). Otherwise, there were no other major picture anomalies (such as: dropped frames, specks, hair-lines, white dots, color fluctuations, etc.) to mar the image. Overall, this movie's picture quality is pretty good, and it should satisfy most viewers.

AUDIO: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48 KHz, 24-bit)

It is hard to believe now, but when this movie was initially released on Laser Disc (as one of that format's first movies to feature an "AC-3" [i.e.—Dolby Digital] soundtrack) it was considered a state-of-the-art, and demo worthy, soundtrack! Fast forward a few years (quite a few years, actually), and, while it still sounds pretty good, it is NOWHERE NEAR the current state-of-the-art in movie soundtracks. None of this is say that it is a bad soundtrack — to the contrary, it has dialog that is clear and well placed, and it has fairly active surround channels (which are somewhat directional when they are used). But, the subwoofer isn't used very often, and when it is used, it isn't very loud or particularly deep. However, the music is very well recorded, and it is spread very effectively into the surrounds. Overall, considering the age of this film (and the fact that it is primarily dialog-driven), its audio presentation should satisfy the vast majority of listeners.

EXTRAS: Director's commentary
'Behind-the-Scenes' Video
Several Featurettes
Trailers

None of the extras were reviewed.

15 people found this helpful

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The Fear in Primal Fear

Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2015

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Primal Fear may very well put the fear of something in you. It could be weirdest movie this side of American Beauty. Richard Gere is tasked with defending an alter boy accused of murdering a beloved Chicago priest. Gere is the flamboyant win at all costs, anything to get client off who meets his match in the Edward Norton character. But before we get to that point, the attorney has to figure out how to get his client off while waging something of a war against two very powerful institutions the Catholic Church and the Chicago PD. While this struggle is intense, it’s only half the battle.

Primal Fear is one of those flicks that definitely bends perceptions of good and evil, love and hate, power and weakness, etc. and it will keep the viewer guessing until the very end and leave them questioning whether they ever really knew anything.

25 people found this helpful

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Tullia

Corruption Permeates This Film

Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2018

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I have seen "Primal Fear" at least four times and with each viewing I am still amazed at the superb performances by Richard Gere, Laura Linney and especially Edward Norton. In fact, there are not enough superlatives to describe the performance by Edward Norton as Aaron/Roy.

This film is about corruption: Corruption by the Bishop, the Catholic Church, the Chicago politicians, and the police. Marty Vail, played by Gere,an ambitious lawyer chooses to defend Aaron, pro bono. Aaron is accused of brutally murdering the Bishop in his private chambers. Janet Venable is the prosecuting attorney. Laura Linney's intense portrayal of Janet is in profound contrast to Marty's ambitious need to prove Aaron innocent.

When I first saw the film, I was shocked at the ending. However, on subsequent viewings, I came to realize that the ending was all a part of the massive corruption that permeated the film, a corruption that Janet could not defeat, and Marty could not do one thing about.

8 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

owlstalker

Very watchable.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 5, 2014

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There are few actors about whom I can honestly say that I've never seen them in a film I haven't enjoyed. Richard Gere is one of the few, and this film is no exception. Brilliant acting from Gere and Richard Norton and a William Diehl courtroom drama as good as anything from Grisham make this 2 hours of riveting viewing. I bought this new for £1.33 + £1.26 p&p. Amazing value - but checking on Amazon only 2 weeks later shows it's now £6.57!!! Why the difference I don't know, but the film itself is great. Update 7/11/14 - and 1 day later it's now £12.93!!!! Ridiculous price increase. It's good, but not worth £12.93. Update 15/11/14 - it's now £14.99!!!!! I wouldn't touch any DVD for that price unless it was a box set such as Game of Thrones!! I would downrate my stars, but as a measure of my satisfaction with the film rather than the value, it still rates 5.

One person found this helpful

aaron paul whitworth

poor

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 22, 2019

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very poor quality dvd from music magpie advertised as "used:good condition".
my experience of the play back was very poor at best stuttered like mad crashed the dvd playback numerous of times but more evidently at 1.39hrs onwards. Sent back not fit for purpose spoiled the film for me bought again elsewhere!

Brenda Newton

Loved it

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 14, 2013

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I saw this film about 7 years ago and when people where talking about great films I would always mention this one as it so stuck in my mind, I hadn't know Edward Norton before but he is one in my list of great actors now, be plays this part so believably well. love films with a twist at the end, and this film has everything, its a must see, had to buy it because when I need to see a great film I whatch this.

3 people found this helpful

mrs p.

Brilliant.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 28, 2019

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Loved this film; a courtroom drama with a stunning twist at the end.

neil dowding

Great product

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 16, 2018

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Great product and great seller to deal with

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