‘I speak. You do not speak. Your job is to just sit there and look innocent...’
I will never for the life of me understand Ed Norton’s career. For me, he should have been the biggest movie star of his generation. In a three-year period in the ’90s, Norton starred in Primal Fear, Rounders, American History X and Fight Club. That is an insane run for a young actor at the start of his career and yet this was undoubtedly his peak. Sure, there have been other great Norton performances here and there but nothing to rival that early run. Despite his intensity and range, Norton hasn’t played a serious role since starring in his directorial debut Motherless Brooklyn in 2019 – a film that was met with a collective shrug. Primal Fear was Norton’s first feature film and his subsequent Best Supporting Oscar nomination was fully justified…
Based on William Diehl’s book, Primal Fear explores the savage murder of a bishop and the subsequent trial of wide-eyed altar boy Aaron Stampler (Norton). While it is the latter who steals the headlines, this is Richard Gere’s movie, starring as defence attorney Martin Vail. It’s a refreshingly nuanced take on what could have been a cliched character and his sparring with prosecution attorney Laura Linney is always entertaining. Rounding out the cast are John Mahoney as a corrupt government official and Frances McDormand as a well-meaning psychologist.
If anyone reading this hasn’t seen Primal Fear, stop reading now. For everyone else, let’s talk twists. The inclusion of multiple personality disorder may seem cliched now, but it comes with the caveat that this predates Fight Club, the ultimate split personality movie, by almost three years. It is no surprise that Norton stars in that film also. This feels like a natural and deserved progression. The final twist, however, really sets Primal Fear apart, and seeing it delivered by two actors as accomplished as Norton and Gere is truly electrifying. The way that Norton is able to twist and contort his features to show the clear delineation between Aaron and Roy is both shocking and somehow repulsive. It also casts the rest of the film in a completely different light.
This is the kind of splashy adult thriller that doesn’t get made anymore and the world of cinema is poorer for it. Not just an excellent showcase for some fine actors, but an excellent film generally.