A Civil Action

While the title would seem to hint at another turgid, ultra-dull, join-the-dots courtroom thriller of the John Grisham variety, A Civil Action actually has much to recommend it.

Dispensing with all the flash that normally attends this type of thing, A Civil Action concentrates exclusively on sinking its teeth into the meat and bones of the tale it tries to tell, while a host of superior actors strut their stuff selflessly and stylishly.

John Travolta plays the good guy (just for a change, you understand) - a slick personal-injury lawyer who seeks justice on behalf of eight bereaved New England families who have lost relatives as a result of the poisoned water supply in their town. Duvall, overacting wildly, steals all his scenes as Travolta's nemesis, a laconic, cynical old bastard who is invariably on the side of the big guys - and Macy, Hedaya and Gandolfini are their usual ultra-reliable selves.

The film is so deliberately detailed in its workings, and so believable in its conclusions, that it will thoroughly perplex anyone misinformed enough to expect another Rainmaker - there are no easy options taken, and it feels far more like real life than anyone could reasonably hope to expect.

The snail's pace tempo occasionally runs the risk of over-sedating the audience, but there's plenty of sly humour on display too - and while it ain't exactly compulsory viewing, A Civil Action is an intriguing and satisfying work that might even go some fraction of the way toward giving this much-abused genre a good name.