Primal Fear (film)

Primal Fear is a 1996 crime drama about Amoral Attorney Martin Vail (Richard Gere) who defends an altar boy (Edward Norton) accused of the brutal murder of an archbishop. Vail, at first only interested in the publicity of the case, soon discovers that there is more to the case than meets the eye.

The movie proved to be Norton's career-launching role.

Not to be confused with the trope of the same name, with which it has little to do.

Also, as the movie is a series of Reveals, spoilers will be problematic.

The film contains examples of the following tropes:
"Martin Vail: First thing that I ask a new client is "Have you been saving up for a rainy day? Guess what? It's raining.""
 * Amoral Attorney: A Deconstruction of this trope.
 * On the cynical hand, Vail knows that guilty people often have loads of money to spend on expensive legal aid.

"Martin Vail: I believe in the notion that people are innocent until proven guilty. I believe in that notion because I choose to believe in the basic goodness of people. I choose to believe that not all crimes are committed by bad people. And I try to understand that some very, very good people do some very bad things."
 * On the idealistic hand, Vail also believes in the system and its ability to protect the innocent from wrongful punishment.

": Don't be like that, Marty. We did it, man. We fucking did it. We're a great team, you and me. You think I could've done this without you?"
 * And on the realistic hand, the fact that the system is designed to place the protection of the innocent over the punishment of the guilty means that inevitably more than a few Complete Monsters will get off scott free -


 * Break the Cutie: Aaron
 * Clear My Name: Aaron claims to be innocent and
 * Extreme Doormat: Aaron,.
 * Gollum Made Me Do It: What Aaron claims is going on.
 * Hanging Judge: Hangin' Harry Shoat
 * Heel Realization: At the end, Vail
 * Hollywood Law: Let's put it this way. If you want to get away with a murder, you probably can. This is not the way to do it.
 * Hyde Plays Jekyll
 * I Never Said It Was Poison:
 * The Perry Mason Method: A variation, set up by Vail in order to prove Aaron's innocence; the prosecution badgers Aaron in an attempt to get him to confess, which causes.
 * At least, that's what  wanted you to think happened.
 * The Reveal:
 * Reveal #1:
 * Reveal #2:
 * Reveal #3:
 * Reveal #4:
 * Stuttering Into Eloquence: Aaron stutters almost every other word, except.
 * Teen Genius: Aaron, possibly. At least, he's able to.
 * Teen Genius: Aaron, possibly. At least, he's able to.