If Juror #2 is to be 94-year-old director Clint Eastwoods final film, let the record reflect that this courtroom drama is a meaty, twisty, mainstream winner. Few directors of any age would have succeeded as well as Eastwood in delivering such a clean, unfussy throwback thriller that doesnt just lean into its moral conundrums, but also dines on them. Working from a noose-tightening screenplay by Jonathan Abrams that always manages to pull itself back from the brink of airport novel-absurdity, Eastwood intricately weaves in layers of complexity while still keeping things accessible and downright compelling.

Eastwoods best films as a director and an actor find him exploring the limits of justice and the concept of flawed men finding the courage to right their moral ship. Juror #2 explores both these ideas and more but does so while also asking viewers to interrogate themselves, their biases, and their self-ascribed sense of nobility, one...