Clint Eastwood Juror #2: Can you hear the ending? Explanations!

Clint Eastwood’s The Jury #2 is all about perspective. The director tells the story of the trial and more specifically of the citizen, Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult), who is appointed as a jury in the case of murder. When the facts are established, he becomes convinced that he is behind the crime.

The injured woman fell from the bridge. Minutes before this accident, he had left the bar after a violent argument with his partner. Justin Kemp was on the same bridge on the evening of the tragedy. He hit something with the car without knowing what it was. If the accused was innocent? Could the real culprit be on the jury?

This trial film, with its fascinating plot, follows one another as if you are turning the pages of a detective book in impatience to find the conclusion. Clint Eastwood and screenwriter Jonathan Abrams choose not to offer a definitive answer. It is up to the viewer to decide their own truth.

Warning, spoilers! The rest of this article shows the ending of the movie. It is best to view it before proceeding.

Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult), haunted by doubts and the guilt of having masterminded the murder, prompts the jurors to reconsider their authenticity. The trial continues. Twelve citizens even go so far as to go to the scene of the tragedy to reconstruct it and pass the final verdict. The latter is final: the accused James Michael Site (Gabriel Basso) is found guilty of murdering his partner.

Meanwhile, viewers try to put the pieces of this tragic night back together with flashbacks. Prosecutor Faith Killebrew (Toni Collette), who is convinced of the accused’s behavior, conducts the investigation in parallel. His doubts multiply. He discovers key evidence: the car that a witness spotted on the night of the accident is in the name of a young couple. He visits them.

He meets his wife – the husband is gone – and realizes that he was wrong. After the sentencing, Faith returns to the same address. Justin opens the door for her. The lawyer, stunned to discover his identity, is more uncertain than ever.

guilty…?

Two interpretations are possible in Juror 2, but which makes more sense to the public? There is ample evidence to prove that Justin imprisoned an innocent man in his place. Through a flashback, we discover that the juror was driving behind the defendant on the night of the tragedy. He saw his car swerve before passing the bridge – where his partner was. So he couldn’t kill her.

Justin also acts like a criminal. He worries when the police lights come on and makes the prosecutor, but also another juror, Marcus (Cedric Yarbrough), suspicious of his behavior. Knowing that he is guilty, his remorse prompts him to reduce the defendant’s sentence without detection.

or innocent?

But it is important to understand the psychology of the main character to challenge the first theory. Justin, a young father, struggles with his demons. He is an ex-alcoholic and lives with this weight on his shoulders, developing self-hatred. When he discovers the affair, he convinces himself that he is primarily responsible. The hero puts this thought on himself, as if to punish himself for past mistakes.

When he crashes his car into something on the night of the accident, he gets out of the car and finds a minor injury and hangs himself from a bridge. He can’t see anything. It’s dark, but is the bridge high enough to ignore the body? In addition, a sign shown several times in the film shows that animal crossings are common.

There’s also the eyewitness account, but he only saw the man – in this case Justin – get out of the car to check. He did not see the accident and the death of the victim. As for the accused, the flashbacks show that he was very violent towards his partner. Killing Trail, due to the nature of their relationship, remains believable – though he maintains his innocence.

at the end

Juror #2 manages to get the audience into the jury. The story presents as many facts and evidence as gray areas of uncertainty. Did Justin really kill the young woman on the bridge? It is up to the viewer to make their own interpretation and reach their own verdict on the nature of the character.

You can see Clint Eastwood’s Jury No. 2 in theaters.