Conviction Review

Director: Tony Goldwyn (Ghost, Tarzan)
Screenplay: Pamela Gray
Starring: Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry, Million Dollar Baby), Sam Rockwell (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Iron Man 2), Minnie Driver (Good Will Hunting), Melissa Leo (The Fighter), and Peter Gallagher (The O.C., Covert Affairs)  
Gross Revenue: $6,783,129
Rotten Tomatoes TomatoMeter: 6%
IMDB Rating: 7.2
     Most would say movies are made for entertainment purposes.  Some would say that movies are made to make a profit.  There are even some movies, that are made for the soul purpose of winning awards.  Conviction is one of these films.  All those involved, the actors, director, producers, made this movie in the hopes of winning some serious Oscar gold.  However, as is often the case in these types of pictures, Conviction tries to hard to tell an inspirational story of hard work, family, and love, in the hopes of winning awards for its participants.

     Conviction spans a period of nearly 20 years, featuring the tale of one woman's quest to liberate her brother from prison.  Kenny Waters (Sam Rockwell) is sentenced to life in prison without parole for the murder of Katharina Brow.  He claims to be innocent and his younger sister, Betty Anne Waters (Hilary Swank), believes him.  Driven by her love of her older brother, Betty Anne dedicates her life to freeing herself from prison.  She works her way through college, earns her B.A., and finally law school, in order to become a full-fledged attorney so that she can prove her brother's innocence.

     Conviction had all the makings of an "Oscar movie".  Starring a two-time Academy Award winner portraying a real-life woman overcoming adversity in an inspirational film is the recipe for an Oscar smash.  However, one thing the filmmakers forget to do was made the movie good enough to win an Oscar.  Don't get me wrong, the movie is perfectly acceptable.  The story is fairly inspirational, and middle-aged woman will probably proclaim it as the best movie of the year.  But for me, the movie is severely lacking in pathos.  It's as if the filmmakers are trying to force the audience to empathize with the characters in the film.  All the emotion in the movie feels very forced, not at all natural.

     The movie bounces between time periods, in order to tell the backstory of the two main characters.  It will jump from flashback, to present, to another flashback, back to another time before the present, and back to another flashback, for no particular reason.  All the time jumping distracts from the emotional impact of the story, and is just annoying.  The movie is a poor blend of an inspirational film and a legal courtroom drama.  The legal proceedings are boring and pedantic, and slows the pace of the movie, and takes time away from the far more interesting part of the movie, Betty Anne's journey to becoming a lawyer, and Kenny's stint in jail.  Bouncing between the two makes both parts suffer, and makes the movie uninteresting and uninspiring.
     The best part of the film is definitely the acting.  Hilary Swank tries a bit too hard to play a burdened, overworked woman, but Sam Rockwell steals the show as the tempermental, bitter Kenny Waters.  He refuses to "soften" Kenny to make him more likable and appealing.  He plays him like a real person, with layers and flaws just like the rest of us.  He makes the movie better every time he is on screen.
     So Conviction wasn't bad.  It was interesting to learn about a woman who went through so much in order to free her brother.  I just wish I knew more about her.  The movie gets so bogged down in legal proceedings and exposition, that more important things, such as character development, are short shifted. Conviction is an acceptable inspirational legal drama, bolstered by a strong performance by Sam Rockwell, but is too manipulative and emotionless to warrant must-see viewing.  3/5.