The Client (1994) Review

Mark Sway ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time when he witnesses the suicide of a mafia lawyer and had a conversation with him before it happened, not wanting to tell the truth to protect his mother and younger brother who is in a coma due to the trauma of the event he hires attorney Reggie Love.

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Based on a John Grisham novel, that seems to be something that I actually like seeing when it comes to a film as you instantly know that it is going to be filled with suspense and some very good moments from start to finish. That certainly is something I want in a film in this genre. I seem to like the films that are based on his novels so thought this would be a decent watch, especially considering the cast.

Mark and his brother Ricky weren’t causing trouble in the woods, I mean Mark was smoking which wasn’t ideal but they were just being boys and exploring. Mark could not help himself in getting involved with Romey. He knew it was wrong to just let someone kill themselves, what he didn’t take into consideration was that he would try to kill him as well. Luckily though his brother managed to help just in time. The boys still had to witness the suicide but Mark had some valuable information about where a dead body was stored.

From this he hires Reggie as his lawyer and she really does her best to protect the boy. With the FBI trying all the tricks in the book to get Mark to talk, even things that really could not be legal. Having him locked up in prison overnight, this was all led by Roy. This created some fantastic scenes between Reggie and Roy as they battled against each other. We find out more about Reggie’s past and this helps explain why she was so drawn towards Mark and helping him for the whole $1 fee that he paid her to represent him.

Brad Renfro was truly outstanding as Mark Sway, such an amazing performance from such a young actor. Really stealing the scenes and more than holding his own against Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones. Something we do not get to see very often from a child actor. Susan Sarandon is one of those actresses who never let you down and with each role you see her in you become an even bigger fan, I was not surprised to see she was Oscar nominated for her role in this one! Tommy Lee Jones is another actor you always know is going to be brilliant and he worked very well with Sarandon and Renfro.

I found this film to be engaging enough from start to finish and managing to keep you guessing on the outcomes as well as the suspense building throughout. Again that is something you really want to see in this type of film. I do enjoy finding films like this that I would have been too young to watch on the release, thinking that I should really focus on the 90s and 80s when it comes to watching films on streaming services!