I have seen and enjoyed several movies that Al Pacino has been in over the years. I thought the trailer for 88 Minutes looked interesting when I saw it and I decided that I wanted to see the movie. It was entertaining, but not as good as I had hoped it would be.

Jon Forster was convicted of murdering a young woman. Dr. Jack Gramm, a successful forensic psychiatrist, testified at the trial about how he believed that Jon was guilty and would kill again. Nine years after the trial ended, another murder was discovered on the morning of the day that Jon was scheduled to be executed. The woman, one of Jack’s students, was murdered the same way as the woman Jon was convicted of killing. Jack believed that Jon had someone commit the murder so he could try to get his execution postponed and get a new trial. Things got more complicated when Jack received a phone call saying he only had 88 minutes left to live.

Some time was taken to show the murder that Jon was convicted of at the beginning of 88 Minutes. The few minutes of the trial that were shown established that Jack’s testimony played a fairly big part in Jon’s conviction. One brief shot showed that Jon and his female lawyer had an inappropriate relationship. It was also shown how Jon reacted to being convicted and it seemed very clear that he blamed Jack. It was necessary to show those things to set up what was going to happen later. The movie then jumped forward nine years to the day Jon was supposed to be executed. Everything that happened later in the movie was somehow connected back into the murder. As the movie progressed, something from Jack’s past was also shared that was somehow connected to what was going on.

I didn’t think that the plot of 88 Minutes was complicated in any way. It was all very straight forward that the new murder was somehow connected to Jon and him trying to get his execution postponed so he could get a new trial. That did seem very obvious and I never doubted that Jon was somehow tied into the new crimes. It eliminated a lot of potential mystery. All that was left was how Jon was pulling the strings from inside prison and who was helping him on the outside. There were a few rather big clues to a few things fairly early in the movie. I also figured out who was helping Jon very early even though I wasn’t sure how that person had met Jon or why they were helping him. The whole bit of Jack having only 88 minutes to live was supposed to build the intensity and make things more suspenseful. I don’t think it really worked since the movie wasn’t intense and I didn’t think it was suspenseful. It was predictable, which isn’t a good thing for a thriller type of movie.

88 Minutes began by showing the attack and murder that Jon was convicted of. It wasn’t pleasant to see even though it wasn’t extremely violent. The murder was committed in a rather elaborate way that was different from anything I’ve seen in any other movies. Later in the movie, there was a little bit of violence added here and there that didn’t make the movie violent overall. The violence was really mild. What was mostly shown was the aftermath of some violence. There was some shooting in a few scenes as well as a car explosion that added a very small amount of action.

Certain things in 88 Minutes just didn’t work that well for me. Jack was supposed to be an expert in his field that everyone looked to for answers. He was supposed to be giving all this insightful information about what was going and most of the time I didn’t see what was so great about it. At one point he claimed he was trying to get inside someone’s head and shake things up a bit. I thought he just did something rather stupid that just made him look a bit unstable. I also thought it was a stretch that basically every young woman he came into contact with was all but drooling over him. Certain things just seemed to work out a little too conveniently and a few characters popped up just when Jack needed to talk to them.

There was one thing that really bugged me because it really seemed unrealistic. I don’t know a lot about all the tests that are done when a person is murdered, but they do take a little time. At one point, it was said that someone’s sperm was discovered in the victim. As far as I know from what had been shown up to that point, the person in question never gave a sample for comparison before that so I just don’t get how they could say it was his sperm. As far as I know, there has to be a sample to compare to be able to make that kind of identification. The person in question wasn’t a known sex offender, so it isn’t like there was a logical reason for that sort of information to be on file somewhere. It was a small thing, but it did bug me a bit.

Even though there weren’t any sex scenes in 88 Minutes, there were some sexual situations and discussions. After the first few minutes that established everything, Jack was shown waking up and he seemed shocked by the alarm and unsure how to turn it off. The reason for that became clear later when it was made clear that he had picked the woman up the night before and just went back to her place for sex. For some reason, before he left her place, she was shown naked brushing her teeth in some sort of yoga position. There was no reason for that other than someone’s need to put a naked woman in the movie. Maybe she was supposed to distract people from the problems in the movie. It was made clear that it wasn’t a new thing for Jack to pick up a woman for sex. There wasn’t much sexual content in the movie, so people who don’t like that sort of stuff shouldn’t have to worry.

I didn’t think any of the characters in 88 Minutes were that interesting and I didn’t care that much about them. That includes Jack. It isn’t that I wanted to see him die or anything, but he just wasn’t a great main character. He came across as arrogant and was a known womanizer who frequently picked up women for sex. He became a little more complex once something from his past was shared. Al Pacino was fine as Jack, but he has done so much better.

Jon Forster was the convicted killer who Jack had helped send to prison. Jon was supposed to be executed on the very day a new victim was discovered. He was also giving a lot of interviews about how he was innocent. Jon really didn’t have much to do, but I did think Neal McDonough did well with the part. He made the guy seem creepy but also charming enough to get people to believe that he was innocent.

None of the other characters were really developed or interesting. Kim was one of Jack’s students and also some sort of teaching assistant. She was interested in a different sort of relationship with him and just happened to be around to get pulled into what was going on. The only memorable thing about her was the fact that her jeans were so tight I kept wondering how she could breath let alone walk. She was also running around in a somewhat sheer sweater before she took that off to show off a camisole type of top for some reason. Maybe her showing more skin was supposed to distract people from the fact that she wasn’t a good character. Alicia Witt wasn’t anything special in the part.

Lauren was yet another one of Jack’s students who conveniently popped up a few times. She also seemed to have a case a hero worship with how she basically fawned all over him and tried to suck up during the class. She wasn’t around that much thankfully because she would have quickly gotten on my nerves. Maybe part of it was because she was played by Leelee Sobieski, an actress who usually annoys me in some way. I’m not sure what it is about her, but I really haven’t liked her in anything I’ve seen her in.

Shelly was Jack’s assistant. She was mostly just shown juggling files and making numerous phone calls for Jack. He must not have been able to dial himself since most of the time he was having her connect him to whoever he wanted to talk to do. The role was a waste of Amy Brenneman. Frank was an FBI agent that Jack had worked with who didn’t have much to do. Carol, the dean of the college, was also barely shown. She was really a pointless character who didn’t add anything to the movie.

Main Cast

Amy Brenneman - Shelly
William Forsythe - Frank
Neal McDonough - Jon Forster
Al Pacino - Jack
Leelee Sobieski - Lauren
Deborah Kerr Unger - Carol
Alicia Witt - Kim

Jon Avnet - Director

88 Minutes had several problems but I was still entertained for the most part by it. Fans of Pacino may like it, but it is far from his best work. There isn’t any need to rush out to see this one. I have a feeling it will be out on DVD soon.


Recommended: Yes