JEWELL ENERGY
DAMON SMITH TAKES A LOOK AT WHAT’S NEW TO WATCH AT HOME, INCLUDING THE CLINT EASTWOOD BIOGRAPHICAL DRAMA, RICHARD JEWELL
IN 1996, Richard Jewell (Paul Walter Hauser) is proud to work as a security guard at the 26th Summer Olympics in his home city of Atlanta. During a concert in Centennial Park on the middle weekend of the Games, Jewell spots an unattended bag and raises the alarm.
His swift and decisive action saves countless lives and he is anointed a hero.
FBI Agent Tom Shaw (Jon Hamm) and partner FBI Agent Dan Bennet (Ian Gomez) come under intense pressure to apprehend the bomber.
They incorrectly identify Jewell as a suspect because his profile “fits the herobomber to a T”.
Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde), a hard-nosed journalist with the AtlantaJournal Constitution, extracts confidential information from Shaw and splashes the FBI’s suspicions about Jewell across the front page.
As a voracious media pack swarms around the home of Jewell’s disbelieving mother (Kathy Bates), the grossly maligned loner hires lawyer Watson Bryant (Sam Rockwell) to refute the bogus accusations.
Based on a true story, Richard Jewell is a quietly indignant drama that restores Clint Eastwood’s lustre as a gifted humanist director.
Scriptwriter Billy Ray distils three months of trial by media and at least one potential violation of Jewell’s civic rights into a compelling character study.
The film is anchored by a winning performance from Hauser as the do-gooder, who pursues public service with a tenacity that errs uncomfortably close to obsession.
Rockwell is terrific as a down-on-his-luck lawyer, who is hired to pick at the seams of the FBI’s conduct, and Bates was deservedly Oscarnominated for her heartrending portrayal of Jewell’s besieged single parent.
■ Available from April 13 on Amazon Prime Video/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/ TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, and from June 8 on DVD.