DEFENDING JACOB (2020)

​​A Great Emotional Judgemental Thriller.

 

VR CRITIQUE RATING 4.25/5

 

• Premiered date: 24th April 2020
• No of Season: 1
• No of Episodes: 8
• Runtime: 46mins per episode
• Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery. 
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Yes
• Streaming Portal: Apple TV+

Defending Jacob is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by William Landay. The series was released on Apple tv plus in 2020. It has 8 episodes with a runtime of 45mins per episode. 

STORY of DEFENDING JACOB

A happy family, Andy Barber (Chris Evans) is the father, reputed and respected assistant district attorney of a Massachusetts county. he was tenacious in the courtroom, a happy broadminded father and a lovable husband at home. His wife Laurie Barber (Michelle Dockery) working as a teacher in a school. His 14-year son Jacob (Jaeden Martell) doing his schooling. Andy works closely with the county police department. 

One fine day, he gets a call from a detective Pam Duffy (Betty Gabriel) that they have found a dead body in the woods. They identified that it was a teen boy who belongs to the same school at which his son studying. Andy along with detective Duffy investigating the case. Duffy found evidence that matches Andy's fourteen-year-old son Jacob. Hence, Jacob was charged for murder, and Duffy arresting him. 

This instance made the family crumble. Andy's son Jacob is going to face the trial soon. Hence parents are preparing to save him. Also, Andy is having a glimpse of his father's memories who stood currently in prison for a murder which he hides from his family and it has to be revealed to them before their trail else will create a setback for his son's trial. Andy got stuck between loyalty, justice, family. 

What happens next? Does Jacob kill his school mate? Does Andy revealed his father's status to his family and relieved from his mental struggle. ?

 

REVIEW of DEFENDING JACOB

Defending Jacob starts with the narration of Andy from a courtroom. The series explains more about the pain, frustration, agony, love, trust, friendship, seclusion, guilt within the family in a thrilling way. In short, it is a character-driven thrilling story. 

The killer will not be revealed even in the end, The writer has given the conclusion to the audience to choose the end. But the finale was changed from the novel, as in the novel, the girl Hope who was introduced in later episodes was killed which provokes the mother Laurie guilt that his son is a psycho killer which propels her to kill him, but in the series, the girl Hope was saved, and the climax shows that both the mother and the son is alive from the terrific accident which left the audience a question of why changing the climax?

The acting of Chris Evans as a father was remarkable and awesome. He has seen as a superhero saving people but here stood there as a super dad trying to save his son. His emotions are fascinating. The acting of Michelle was tremendously great, the way she showed the guiltiness, loss of inner peace through her eyes was spellbinding. Jaeden as son Jacob is great, his acting was flawless. 

The cinematography was dull in a few places. The music has really given an aura to the screenplay and it was picture perfect. The editing is really great especially during the narration of Andy in the courtroom. 

Overall, A wonderful emotional thriller at which we need to be the judge whether to defend or offend "Defending Jacob" As far as I concern, Defending Jacob will not bore the audience, instead, it will intrigue with twists and turns as it was a judgemental thriller.

VR CRITIQUE RATING 4.25/5

PS: Please do watch the series in high definition either with 4K or HDR quality with the proper surrounding system to enjoy the picture-perfect scenes. I watched the movie with a high definition of HDR quality and with Dolby's surrounding system.