The Chamber

Opus V from the John Grisham production line is grey, humourless and unimaginative. Alleged killer Sam Cayhill (Hackman) has been on death row in Mississippi since 1967. Now he has a month to live. Sam himself isn't putting much effort into his defence, but legal greenhorn Adam Hill (O'Donnell) can do that. Adam is Sam's grandson, and despite Sam's brush-offs, the young lawyer suspects the black sheep of the family is taking the fall for a racist conspiracy. The occasionally murky character, turning up with some revelation to get things moving, is a relief from O'Donnell's blandness and his earnest delivery of Grisham's lifeless dialogue.