The Whole Truth (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Courtney Hunt
	Actors: Keanu Reeves (The Matrix 1-3, John Wick, Man of Tai Chi), Renée Zellweger (Me, Myself and Irene), Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Jim Belushi (Red Heat), Gabriel Basso
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 25.05.2017, VOD, 32" TV screen
Synopsis: Mike (Basso) is on trial for the murder of his abusive father (Belushi). The lawyer of this rich family (Reeves) is working on the case with the mother (Zellweger) but the son refuses to speak to anybody.
Review: I was looking for a trial story after liking the adaptations of John Grisham's novels A Time to Kill and The Client, both from the 90's. The Whole Truth is twenty years more recent so somehow different, but the thing about trial movies is that the frame (the law) and the motives are always the same, so not so different after all. The original thing that I liked from this movie is not even directly related to the main story, but is the way that when any witness tells his truth, we see on screen what really happened, and the difference between both goes from small details (that can have big consequences) to full-scale lies. The character of Reeves explains it early on to his assistant: people are not afraid of going to jail but of being embarrassed, or lose their jobs. Thus the small lies. This vision of what goes on in a court room is well integrated to serve the main story, also quite original in itself. Keanu Reeves is not bad in this role, maybe trying to find a new career path after his goodbyes to Martial Arts with both 47 Ronin and Man of Tai Chi in 2013, and now with the bad-ass character of John Wick in the two eponymous movies. Jim Belushi and Renee Zellweger (post face-lift) are also good in secondary roles.
Rating: 6 /10