12 Angry Men

One room, twelve guys, and somehow it's tense as hell.

I threw this on a Saturday afternoon not really knowing what I was in for, and it locked me in. There's no courtroom drama here in the traditional sense. The trial's over. This is just the deliberation, and it shouldn't work as well as it does.

One room, twelve guys, and somehow it's tense as hell.

Henry Fonda is the whole engine. He's intense in a quiet way, and he stands by his read on the case even when every other guy in that room is ready to go home and call it a night. Watching him chip away at the rest of them, one juror at a time, is the journey. That's the movie. And it's a good one.

My one nitpick is pure personal preference: I would've liked to see this in color. I know, I know. The black and white absolutely works, and part of me knows coloring it in would make it a different film entirely, maybe a worse one. But that's just me. I tend to bounce off black and white, and I had to meet this one halfway.

It stuck with me after, which is the real test. I was thinking about the way each juror's baggage walked into that room with them long after the credits rolled. Would I throw it on again? Probably not. Once was enough to get what I needed out of it. But if you're the right kind of person for a movie that's basically twelve dudes arguing in one room for an hour and a half, you already know who you are. Go find it.