Rating: 
Summary: devastatingly good - a real soul searcher
Review: i had to watch the chamber as part of a class project and i thought it would be a typical story witha happy ending as usual grisham writes a top rated book which gets you at the heart and leans on the subject of the gas chamber - a truly excellent book which gets you thinking that you don't know what freedom is until it is taken away
Rating: 
Summary: Book or Movie?
Review: I have read the book and seen the movie and have to admit that this movie did not reach it's full potential.
This movie is about a Sam Cayhall(Hackman), a convicted murderer of two young Jewish boys in a Ku Klux Klan bombing. Cayhall has sat inside his little cell in the MSU of the Mississippi state penitentary counting the days until that faitful day when he takes his last breath in the chamber. His grandson Adam Hall('o Donnell) will not stand for it. As a lawyer he has been interested in this perticular case for many years and will not give up until he wins. He fights along the side of his bitter and hateful kin, putting up with every back stabbing comment only to get this man the freedom that most people think that he does not deserve. Now at the age of 70, he will have to fight until time runs out.
I understand that sometimes people have to cut things from the movie because they feel that it is not making it any better, but this is RIDICULOUS! While watching this movie, I felt like it was a two minute long movie. He kills, he fights, he dies. That is basically it. All of the good side plots have been cut. Being a big fan of these types of movies and books, this proved to be a major dissapointment to me. I actually feel bad for such an excellent actor like Gene Hackman to be involved in this monstrosity! He gave an excellent performance and THAT is worth watching. Everything else is just an eyesore. JUST READ THE BOOK (it may be long, but worthwhile)!After reading the book, I was quite surprised at how much important information was cut. Though there is some excellent talent in this film, it still falls way short of any awards. I think that anybody would be better off reading the book than watching this movie. You should definitely read the book first and maybe even (ugh) see the movie. Compare the two and help me prove my point. The only reason that I gave this movie any stars was because I was pleased with the acting, not the script!
Rating: 
Summary: Very good plot.
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, if nothing else, to the movie. Al Pacino is great, and when Adam Cayhall shoots down all the monsters from mars, let me tell ya, you could watch it over and over again. I don't want to give away any secrets, but the highspeed eighteen wheeler chases across a busy highway in on coming traffic.... that takes you buy the throat and swings ya around, squeezing harder and harder and never letting go until it snaps, and your head falls down onto your chest, (because theres nothing holding it of course!) and snaps your collarbone with it... it splinters into many peices within your body. Anyway... I just would like to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, and In my opinion, this was the best war movie yet.
Rating: 
Summary: It's a Keeper
Review: I've enjoyed the movie twice & am adding it to my collection.
Gene Hackman is terrific as usual. Faye Dunaway even better in this particuar movie.
I wasn't familar with the story & hadn't heard of the book, just walked into the movie out of the blue one night because I saw Gene Hackman was in it.
Enjoyed it very much!!!
Rating:
Summary: Echo Chamber
Review: The Chamber represents one of only two John Grisham novels that I've read over the years. For the most part, I have enjoyed the film adaptations of his books, regardless of whether or not I looked at the source material or not. While the film boasts another great performance from Gene Hackman, it's still lacking, especially when I compare it to the book. Adam Hall (Chris O'Donnell)is an idealistic young lawyer, who travels to Mississippi to plea for the life of an inmate, scheduled to die in the gas chamber in four weeks. The condemned man is an unyielding bigot, who happens to be the attorney's estranged grandfather, Sam Cayhall (Hackman). It is learned through a series of flashbacks, that the Cayhall family history is complicated, through Adam's visits with Lee (Faye Dunaway). Director James Foley tries his best...unfortunately nothing can help the film. It's clear almost from frame one that O'Donnell is miscast. His performance reminds me of a male teenager going through puberty. He just didn't have the necessary range to go toe to toe with Hackman. For his part, he does a fine job, but could have used support. Dunaway could have phoned it in--with better results. The film ruins any of the book's suspense. There's none of the guess work about what's gonna happen--I can only only say the book version is better...but not as good as the novel A Time To Kill. I think the folks at Universal knew what they had here. The DVD only has a few production notes and the theatrical trailer in the way of any extras. Given the film...that's a good thing. Save for Hackman you may want to just stick with the book.
Rating:
Summary: What Is Justice? What Is Evil?
Review: There are few clearcut issues in life, and Grisham explores so many gray areas in The Chamber. Can a truly evil man be remorseful and transformed? Is justice sometimes inappropriate, too harsh or excessive? Gene Hackman gives a tremendous portrayal as a racist slimeball sentenced to the gas chamber for a horrific hate bombing in the 60's, where Jewish twin boys were blown to bits. The movie describes all the legal maneuvering to keep him from his date with the executioner. Is Hackman a changed man? Does he regret his actions? Is he remorseful? Is he foolishly and blindly protecting someone? Is it in society's best interest to kill him some 30 years after his crime? These are the moral questions that swirl around inside the Chamber. The answers are up to you........
Rating:
Summary: not the best
Review: This movie is about a young lawer trying to get his gramd father out of prison. The grandfather is on death row. In the end ol' grandfather gets gassed. Groos this movie was mot to great but the acting and bachgrounds were great. The plot was the worst ever.
Rating: 
Summary: Dreadful, I mean, really
Review: This was one of the first movies I saw with my now-wife. She wanted to see it because she likes Chris O'Donnell, and I agreed because...well, it's one of those things you have to do when you start dating someone. Today I would tell her, "No way, no Grisham movies. Go with your sister." At least I would think about telling her that, before I stuck my tail between my legs and said, "Coming, dear". The movie is about a young lawyer (O'Donnell) who sets out to help his racist redneck murderer grandfather (Gene Hackman) escape the gas chamber. O'Donnell does this out of some sense of grandfilial duty, and I found myself thinking, wait, I'm supposed to ROOT for this kid to get this repulsive creature off the hook? Hackman's character planted a bomb that killed two little Jewish kids, not the sort of crime you shrug your shoulders over and say, "Que sera sera". That's the kind of crime the dealther penalty is for. Suffice to say there are reasons why Hackman shouldn't be executed, but I found the whole scenario kinda flimsy. The whole movie, actually, is pretty flimsy. O'Donnell is perhaps the blandest actor working today, and here he gives as vacant a performance as I've ever seen. He says every line with virtually no inflection, no modulation in his voice, as though he was mildly sedated (lucky guy). O'Donnell's boy-next-door looks (well, boring boy-next-door) do not make up for his robotic acting. When they make a biopic about Al Gore, O'Donnell gets the part. No idea what my wife sees in him. Hackman is not a boring actor, but this role leaves him few options. With long greasy gray hair and a thicket of beard, Hackman looks like a puffy Willie Nelson. His character is a mean, racist, nasty piece of work, and Hackman is certainly actor enough to pull it off. But he spends too much time yelling and screaming, and that's all wrong. One of Hackman's greatest strenghts is projecting menace behind a smile. When Hackman is standing next to you, that arrogant sneer on his face, whispering softly into your ear, that's when you know you're in big trouble. Think back to "No Way Out" and "Unforgiven", just to give two examples. But get him screaming and waving his arms around and you've won. Even so, O'Donnell simply cannot compete with Hackman on screen. It's like Mike Tyson taking on Richard Simmons. Maybe Hackman's histrionics were an attempt to make up for the vaccuum created by O'Donnell. The movie has one redeeming feature, and that is the performance of Bo Jackson. Bo has the small but pivotal role of the prison guard assigned to watch over Hackman, and he's excellent. Unlike most athletes-turned-actors he doesn't overact just to show that he CAN act. He speaks quietly without coming across like an automaton like O'Donnell, yet has enough of a screen presence that he easily hangs with Hackman. I'm not saying that Bo is ready for King Lear, but he's a better actor than O'Donnell, and Chris never made the All-Star team AND the Pro Bowl in the same year. So why hasn't Bo been in like 30 movies since then? I got the answer awhile back when I was listening to a sports radio show with Bo as guest. He was so releaxed and happy it made you sick. When asked to describe a typcial day in retirement, Jackson said that he took his kids to school in the morning, played golf with his buddies, ate lunch with his wife, swam a bit, picked up his kids, made dinner for everyone, and then rented a movie or played games with his kids. As content as a man can be. He certainly doesn't feel the need to be in boring movies with the likes of Chris O'Donnell. So in addition to pretty much everything else, Bo Knows when to call it quits.
Rating:
Summary: Read it? Don't watch it...
Review: While John Grisham writes extremely good books in which The Chamber is one of...this movie was just pathetic. The storyline of the book was chopped up and murdered. You dont see the changes that Gene Hackman goes through in the movie...one minute he's a KKK advocate and the next he's loving minorities. I have heard from people that haven't read the book that it was a good movie, but this movie is not worth it if you have read it. With the big names in this film...the story line should have been written to FOLLOW THE BOOK!
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