Based on the true story, and it's up to you to figure out if you believe the version told here, Robin Wright stars as Mary Surratt - the owner of a boarding house in DC where the men who conspired to kill President Lincoln, Vice President Johnson and Secretary of State Seward used to hold their planning sessions. After Lincoln's assassination, the country is in turmoil and mourning, so Secretary of War, and Lincoln confidante, Edwin Stanton (Kevin Kline), moves swiftly to have the conspirators rounded up and put on trial.Surratt claims she is innocent with no participation in the plot, and young Civil War hero Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy) is cajoled into defending her by his mentor, Senator Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson). Aiken is convinced of her guilt like most of the nation, but, as he dives deeper into the case, he starts to question Surratt's guilt, the process and the fairness of what is happening in the proceedings.
Is Mary Surratt guilty?
Does it even matter?
It's another movie with an amazing cast, but McAvoy has the righteous indignation that makes The Conspirator hook you. You'll love his outrage at the twists and turns of the case, and the unfairness of the proceedings, but the performance is a great one because he builds it like a crescendo. McAvoy has Aiken start off aloof and assuming guilt, but, as the movie progresses and he gets deeper into the case, we feel the confusion and the conflict growing in him, until it explodes and Aiken tries to right what he starts to feel is an inevitable injustice.
However, The Conspirator does feel like a small movie. Is director Robert Redford trying to give us a sense of the confinement Surratt feels in the tribunal room and prison, or just making up for a small budget? I am guessing budget.
The movie could use more trial scenes and evidence introduced by both sides, and The Conspirator lacks that one, big, massive moment to rock our worlds, but it does have several larger ones that capture your attention (they light rock our world, like a John Mayer song).
3 Waffles (Out of 4)
Rated PG-13 for some violent content.
However, The Conspirator does feel like a small movie. Is director Robert Redford trying to give us a sense of the confinement Surratt feels in the tribunal room and prison, or just making up for a small budget? I am guessing budget.
The movie could use more trial scenes and evidence introduced by both sides, and The Conspirator lacks that one, big, massive moment to rock our worlds, but it does have several larger ones that capture your attention (they light rock our world, like a John Mayer song).
3 Waffles (Out of 4)
Rated PG-13 for some violent content.
