Rating: 
Summary: THE FIRM
Review: Tom Cruise delivers the most electrifying performance of his career in this riveting film based on the international bestseller.
Criuse plays Mitch McDeere, a brilliant and ambitious Harvard Law grad. Driven by a fierce desire to bury his working -class past, Mitch joins a small, prosperous Memphis firm that affords Mitch and his wife an affluent lifestyle beyond their wildest dreams. But when FBI agents confront him with eveidence of corruption and murder within the firm, Mitch sets out to find the truth in a deadly crossfire between the FBI, the Mob, and a force that will stop at nothing to protect its interests - THE FIRM. Directed by Oscar winner Sydney Pollack and starring Oscar winner Gene Hackman plus a magnificent supporting cast, THE FIRM makes its case as the must - see movie of the year.
Rating:
Summary: A Nail Biting, Sit Up In Your Seat Tale
Review: I absolutely love movies where the main character is in some impossible situation and has to be very clever in order to find an escape hatch. This is one of those movies. Cruise does a great job as a new lawyer who discovers his great job is anything but. Gene Hackman is good as an attorney who has resigned himself to selling his soul.
Rating: 
Summary: Betrayal of the Book
Review: The acting was good, and the movie was fine as a whole; however, the book made a point. The movie simply bashed lawyers. That's not tough sport.
Rating: 
Summary: Try to avoid contrasting the film with the book!!
Review: Like most people who had read the book and anxiously awaited the movie release I felt betrayed after going to the theater and viewing the film. As I left the theater I along with others who had read the book were complaining about how they (Hollywood) ruined a great suspense novel. However, the friend I had gone to see the film with seemed to have really enjoyed the film. I couldn't understand how, but then he had not read the book. A few months later I had the opportunity to view the film again at the cheap seats and to my surprise I found myself entertained. This time around I quit comparing the book and the movie and just watched and it wasn't have bad. After talking to others who have read the book and were initially disappointed with the film I have come to the following conclusion. While almost everyone who has read it believes that the book is a much better story than the movie, the movie isn't half bad if you can quit comparing every change. Of course you still notice the changes but don't spend as much time dwelling on the changes while watching the film. I hope that Hollywood makes Grisham's THE PARTNER into a movie, it is as good as if not better than THE FIRM. I also hope they stick to the original story this time.
Rating:
Summary: Firm but Just
Review: Having read all of John Grishams novels and especially loving " The Firm ", I was a bit dissapointed with the standard of the movie. Acting wise Tom cruise probably played one of his better roles as Mitch Mcdeere and Gene Hackman always up to his usual greatness helped me digest a movie, which defies the novel by taking on a different ending . The novel was beautifully written and vividly described and i could not put it down. The movie on the other hand lacked action,emotion and the wonderful ending John wrote for us. The movie wasnt as bad as the book " The Street lawyer " !!! but it wasnt as great as the movie " A time to kill " ! For all those movie viewers out there that have seen the movie but havent read the book I urge you to read it soon and i guarantee that you will love it !!!
Rating: 
Summary: Very good
Review: I like Tom Cruise in most of his movies, I thought this was one of his better ones. A young husband and his wife start out with a big Law Firm making major money only to find it is a very corrupt firm trying to take over every aspect of their lives, at work and in the home. I really liked his solution to the problem, not only did he get his brother out of prison, but he freed himself and his wife without giving up his whole life and career and had the FBI where he wanted them for a change instead of the other way around. And he kept all the evidence against the firms clients and them in the event he ever needed it, so boy did he have the hammer! He also got rid of two of the really bad guys. He and Abbie went on with their lives in a new place and in a new way.
Rating:
Summary: Cruise's Oscar Worthy Performance
Review: First off, I did read the book and felt the movie's plot changes were for the worse. However, this movie on its own is an entertaining and generally good piece. What really stood out for me was Tom Cruise's performance. I have seen most of his films and I think this was by far his best showing. We all know that he can play the young, ambitious, somewhat naive type (see Top Gun, The Color of Money, A Few Good Men), which is what he basically does in the first quarter of the movie, but after he becomes suspicious of the firm and has to deal with the FBI and pulling off a way to extricate himself from this whole situation, his acting really starts to shine. The way he is able to convey fear, anxiety, confusion, etc. without much dialougue is truly remarkable. The scene in which he tells his wife that he went to see his brother in jail is a great example of what I'm talking about. I think it was a travesty that he wasn't even nominated for an Oscar for this film.
Rating:
Summary: An imperfect but generally good thriller
Review: Tom Cruise plays another slick, humorous, all-American man and as usual is well cast. The story tells of his signing onto a law firm and finding out that it isn't all it's cracked up to be, with corruption, murders, and all the other juicy stuff thrown in. Starts off very well but is still a little too talky and overlong. The cliches are plentiful and the ending is predictable, though pretty good near two-and-a-half hours of entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: NOT FOR ME
Review: I did not like this film. It did have drama and suspense, and Tom Cruise and Gene Hackman were good. Bribery, blackmail... always good premises for action pictures. But personal taste dictates that I just did not get into it. Jeanne Tripplehorn is one good reason not to like it. Sometimes she is very likeable (in the virtually unknown Til There Was You) but other times not so (Sliding Doors). Most people who see this will probably like it. What can I say?
Rating:
Summary: A bit long, but a tense, fun ride
Review: I was predisposed to like this movie when it hit theatres in 1993 because it was filmed in my hometown and I worked as an extra in it. But putting all my bias aside, the film is better than it could have been, but not as good as it should have been. Jeanne Tripplehorn took over as Abby McDeere when a pregnant Robin Wright (Penn) dropped out, and she does well with an underwritten, stock character. Wilford Brimley is deliciously evil, and Gene Hackman is, well, perfect as always. Some folks balked at the different-from-the-book ending, but as director Sydney Pollack explained, the original town-to-town-chase ending would have added too much time to the film. As for the musical score -- I was a bit taken aback by the Dave Grusin piano in what I thought would be an action/thriller genre movie. But Pollack has used Grusin on many of his films, and soon the score grows on you. I think this was probably the best movie version of a Grisham novel. "The Client" seemed kind of flat (sorry, Joel Schumacher), "The Pelican Brief" was far from Alan Pakula's best (he did the superb "Parallax View" w/Warren Beatty), and "John Grisham's 'The Rainmaker'", while not bad, was a step down for the masterful Francis Ford Coppola. I haven't seen "A Time To Kill" yet. The cast of "The Firm" actually did pretty well with the material given. The book reads like a movie screenplay, but that can be a curse. Every reader "sees" a different version or treatment of it in their heads as they read it, so how could the actual film ever live up to every reader's expectations? It can't. So the film manages to succeed in spite of all that. Good job! But then again, I'm in it and I got to meet the whole cast (except Holly Hunter and Gary Busey), so I'm biased.
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