Rating: 
Summary: LIONS, TIGERS AND BEARS, OH MY!
Review: A taut probing look at lawyers, the law, judges, corporate giants vs the people, its victims. This film depicts sharp crafty hot-shot lawyers interested only in pursuing personal injury suits guaranteed to win huge settlements- finally immersing themselves in a case that may be beyond their ability to win, crushing their confidence and dismantling their ranks and their finances. The case is worthy, the victims deserving of justice, and the battle collossal. John Travolta as the top obsessed lawyer is excellent, and Robert Duvall as a wise, old opponent is superb. A magnificient cast rounds out this drama concerning the illness of adults, deaths of innocent children, and animals because of contaminated drinking water and industrial pollution. Unfolding the massive cover-up and getting this case into the courtroom to be heard is almost impossible, but our hero plods on. Gripping, intense, yet uplifting and redeeming in its concept of the often frustrating saga of " trying to do the right thing." I liked the film. Yes it deviated from the book, but films often take a creative twist. It begins on a "Jerry Maguire-SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!!!!" tone, but expands into "A Philadelphia Story" of sorts.
Rating: 
Summary: not a particularly good movie
Review: According to the reviews on Amazon I stood a good chance of buying a great movie from my favorite on-line movie store. But alas, this time I was disappointed by the yarn that was spun by Steve Zaillan et al. The movie was simply too long for what it had to tell. Don't get me wrong: I like a good long movie when there is a good build-up of suspense or maybe an in-depth character study that really gets you into the movie. "A civil action" had neither I'm afraid. Although I really like Robert Duvall a lot, I have to say that the character he plays in this movie is just too strange to be more than fleetingly interesting. The story winds down from a good start to a very disappointing anti-climax. The people who are at the heart of this story (the parents of the children that have died of various polution-related diseases) are markedly absent and this alone renders the movie inadequate and frankly, a waste of time.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-adapted story with terrific acting
Review: After recently reading Jonathan Harr's book A Civil Action, I eagerly awaited seeing the movie version of this sad and absorbing story. The film version condenses the story and leaves out several interesting portions of the book, but is fine nevertheless. John Travolta is a perfect choice to play Jan Schlichtmann, the egotistical, free-spending attorney who dives headfirst into a damages case against the corporate giants Beatrice and W.R. Grace, who are accused of poisoning the drinking water of Woburn, Massachusetts and causing a leukemia outbreak. William H. Macy, Tony Shalhoub, and Zeljko Ivanek co-star as Schlichtmann's partners in the firm, and one only wishes that they would have protested his actions, which led to the financial ruin of him and his firm.Robert Duvall gives another terrific performance as Jerome Facher, Beatrice's attorney, who is the complete opposite of Schlichtmann. In a scene at a fancy hotel conference room, the frugal Facher is not impressed by any of the lawyers or their arguments, but the free pen that he can take home. It's a subtly funny scene that illustrates Facher perfectly. John Lithgow does a terrific job as Judge Walter Skinner, who Schlichtmann believes is siding with the enemy. A Civil Action is a story where the winners and losers are unclear, and it must have been difficult for writer-director Steven Zaillian to condense Harr's technical-laden novel. The result is a solid drama with powerhouse acting. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: If your a reader, buy the book!
Review: As a lawyer and someone who read the book before seeing the movie, I highly recommend that you buy the book rather than this movie. While the movie does somewhat accurately depict what happened, it really minimizes the serious and close relationships that Jan Schl..(travolta's character)developed with his clients, and also barely gets into how much time Jan spent researching and developing this case.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty much what it's like
Review: As someone who's litigated class action laswuits, I must say that this movie hit reality on the head more often than not. It was scary. The movie is a great dramatic piece. As for the DVD quality, the picture is fantastic and the Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is especially good for a movie where nothing blows up. The sound fills the room with ambience and the dialog is crystal clear.
Rating:
Summary: acting team was wonderful
Review: As usual John Travolta and Robert Duvall were tremendous. Since I knew nothing about the plot or premise of the movie, I assumed that the rich personal injury lawyer (John Travolta) would come out on top with his Porsche and Itallian made suits entact. While this production was not advertised as a thriller, or overly suspenseful, I found it to be just that, attributable to the acting of the entire cast.
Rating:
Summary: Bad video quality
Review: Bad Video and Motion qualit
Rating:
Summary: Perfect Man For The Job
Review: Based on Jonathon Harr's best-selling book, A Civil Action is about a large company knowingly contaminating drinking water. After the citizens of the town convince John Travolta a big-time undefeated attorney to represent them several more victims of irrational numbers of lekukimia die Travolta risks it all to put and end to the contaminating.
Rating:
Summary: Good movie but...
Review: calling it "The best Thriller of the year" is a little bit exagerated ! It all takes some time but keep watching and you'll see it's a good movie. I have seen the "Good old 12 inch Laserdisc" version so I can't comment on the DVD's quality. That of the LD was SUPERB !
Rating:
Summary: READ THIS!!!
Review: DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WATCHING THIS FILM, THIS COULDN'T BE MORE OF A CLEARER CASE OF THE BOOK BEING MUCH BETTER THAN THE FILM, THIS IS COMING FROM A PERSON WHO READS BOOKS FOR PLEASURE ONCE IN A BLUE MOON, I'M TELLING YOU'D BE BETTER OFF READING THE BOOK, THE EVENTS ALL HAPPEND AND THE STORY IS TOLD BETTER. THOUGH I UNDERSTAND THE BUSINESS SIDE OF IT, ITS A SHAME THEY PUT THE MOVIE PUBLICITY PICTURE ON THE COVER OF THE BOOK, ITS LIKE A LOUSY ATHLETE BEING VOTED ON THE ALL-STAR TEAM JUST BECAUSE ALL THE TEAMS HAVE TO BE REPRESENTED. THATS ALL I GOTTA SAY!
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