Reaction on The Firm

By Carolyne R. Lagutao

The Firm is a legal-action thriller film about a young budding lawyer named Mitch McDeere who joins a
prestigious law firm Bendin, Lambert, & Locke (BL&L.) He initially lived a promising and fruitful career
with his wife Abby as an upstart in the company but when two of the firm’s associates were murdered,
the dark side of the company starts to unfurl. After being contacted by the FBI, McDeere begins to
uncover the law firm’s nefarious activities which involved money laundering, aiding rich clients into
committing tax fraud, as well as being having the powerful Morolto Crime Family of Chicago as one of its
clients.

Now this where McDeere’s life gets a bit complicated. Instead of practicing his career and enjoying the
perks of being a lawyer of a topnotch company such as BL&L, the Federal Bureau of Investigation
wanted him to become its snitch/inside man in an attempt to gather evidence that would pin down B&L.
Yes, McDeere was caught in a dilemma, but that didn’t diminish his craftiness. In exchange, McDeere
demanded two things: the release of his brother Ray who is locked up in jail on charges of manslaughter,
and $1.5 million to be deposited in his Swiss bank account. But when the complexity of the matter
began to sink in, McDeere was faced with two choices: should he accomplish the task that was given to
him by the FBI that would benefit the greater good, or must he live by the oath he took as lawyer and
stand by his firm but would eventually get him indicted nonetheless? Ultimately, McDeere turned on his
company by approaching the Moroltos and telling them about its shady activity of over-billing its
clients--- one that would include them. In exchange for McDeere’s confession, the Moroltos agree to
guarantee his safety, thus saving his job and sending the company’s senior members to prison. In the
end he began to rekindle his relationship with his wife Abby which was strained with the occurrences in
his short-lived career with BL&L.

I think this movie presented the difference between ethics and morality. As a lawyer, McDeere is not
supposed to divulge attorney–client confidentiality as it violates a lawyer’s professional ethics. But
owing to the immoral acts of the law firm itself, he had to do what he felt was right and that is by
surreptitiously providing its files to the FBI, albeit for a high price. The film itself is riveting and although
there were quite a number of dragging scenes, I felt these were necessary as they helped build up the
plot. Though the action was scarce compared to a typical Tom Cruise film, its psychological aspect kept
me glued to the screen. Throughout the film, I had hoped that the tables would eventually be
overturned on BL&L and being a movie with a good ending, it eventually did. I had hoped for a few
scenes wherein I would see BL&L shut down but their absence did little to leave me wanting more.
Overall, I was astounded by The Firm. Notwithstanding its long screen time of 2 hours and 34 minutes, it
is solid proof that legal – thrillers are just as engaging and exciting to watch as their action film
counterparts.

The Firm featured an ensemble cast led by Tom Cruise, and included Jeanne Tripplehorm of Basic
Instinct Fame as well as veteran and premiere actor Gene Hackman. I was particularly impressed by the
stellar performance of Cruise of being the ambitious young lawyer Mitch who got caught in the middle
of his strict adherence to his profession and the moral aspect of turning on his law firm. Tripplehorn was
also effective in playing a sensitive and smart wife Abby to Cruise’s character as well as Hackman who
put in a laudable performance of being McDeere’s mentor. I have loved how the film played the
morality aspect and its storyline that led to the finale. Overall, Sydney Polack ably directed this film that
although is not much-action packed, was still enough to turn John Grisham's bestselling 1990 novel into
an engaging thriller.