Michael Douglas has seemingly done it all in his illustrious career. The only feat he has not accomplished is starring in a trilogy similar to Star Wars, Star Trek, or Lord of the Rings. In the eyes of this critic his reluctance to be typecast and identified with one breakout movie has benefited his career enormously. Douglas' understudy and up-and-comer in Beyond A Reasonable Doubt is Jessie Metcalfe, a dashing young actor with what pop-culturites call ‘mad skills’. Together the seasoned veteran and the young hotshot make for an epic court drama that amounts to the best straight to DVD release of the now closed 2009.
Michael Douglas fresh off a gobble removal (face tightening procedure) stars as Marc Hunter, a brilliant District Attorney with a flawless record of murder convictions. Nobody charms a jury like this D.A. There is only one problem with his tactics; circumstantial evidence continues to appear days into each trial that would cause doubters to question the veracity of said evidence. One such nonbeliever is C.J. Nicholas (played by Jessie Metcalfe from John Tucker Must Die), a local news reporter looking to make a name for himself by breaking a monumental story that would shock the world. C.J. had already done that for a small town news station which allowed him a foray into network news. Unfortunately, at the moment he is stuck doing fun stories otherwise known as fluff. In the bottom of the barrel C.J. feels mishandled and underutilized. His scheme is to befriend or bed the Assistant District Attorney Ella Crystal played by the lovely Amber Tamblyn from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. Persistence is often the key to winning a woman’s heart provided it is there to be won. Finally Ella agrees to dinner with our leading man C.J. They hit it off and sparks fly. She falls deeply in love with him and their relationship is an accurately portrayed a young romance, at once passionate and impetuous. While naked in C.J.’s bed Ella watches the tape of his breakout report about a young woman in dire straits who killed her baby and died two weeks later.
C.J. decides to solicit the help of his camera man and best friend Corey Hunter (played by Joel Moore of Dodgeball and Avatar). Corey is easily compliant as he smells opportunity. Together they concoct a plan to trap Attorney Hunter into committing fraud in the middle of a murder trial. The first step is to video tape C.J. purchasing murder clothes, a ski mask, a weapon, sneakers, etc. The second step is to wait for the perfect murder to occur that would allow the planting of his DNA evidence at the crime scene. Step three is to go on trial for murder providing the perfect setting for step four: exposing the D.A.’s nefarious conviction methods. Unfortunately C.J. is a young rookie and unaware of how deep the D.A.’s influence and corruption runs. Once C.J. executes the plan he is immediately imprisoned and put on trial for murder.
The real drama then begins. In the middle of the murder trial Corey is summoned by C.J. to procure the video tape (CD) proving his innocence and the D.A.’s malice. Unfortunately one of the CSI investigators is working in close unison with the D.A. himself and ransacks Corey’s apartment. In a last minute effort to save his friend’s life Corey races to his safety deposit box to retrieve the second and final copy of their tape. He is run into traffic by the corrupt investigator and is hit by a truck and essentially dies on scene. In court C.J. has no choice but to reveal his plan and to protest his innocence. This only serves to further his ostensible culpability and he is sentenced to death.
While on death row Ella chooses to foolishly (a lover’s loyalty can be touching) believe C.J. and investigates for herself to uncover the truth. Eventually she finds out the truth and before she can expose the D.A. as a crook the investigator tries to kill her. In a cliché parking garage cat and mouse chase Ella is nearly killed. Orlando Bloom, the innocent investigator has to shoot the CSI criminal.
Ultimately Attorney Hunter is proven a criminal and his convictions are overturned. Just when we believe the suspense is over at the end we are treated to one more unsuspected twist. While enjoying his first hours of freedom the police come to arrest C.J. again as apparently he planted evidence in the making of his breakout story for his last job and murdered the interviewee. Rather than make the same mistake again Ella chooses justice over love. That effectively helps her become D.A. and advance her career. Girl power. Game over, great movie.
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