Trial by Fire (I) (2018) User Reviews (116)

I'm pleased I don't live under the US "justice" system

[stuff-44601 · 8/10 · 6 June 2021]

A well acted film well paced and directed.

There's far too many of these miscarriages of justice happening by people in a uniform or position of power.

There's more than enough evidence on the news and what I wasn't aware of is sometimes surfaced like here in a movie.

As shocking and depressing as these injustices are, it's compounded by failure of the system to acknowledge and correct it's mistakes, rooting out the corruption.

So well done to the film makers for shaming those involved.

Eye Opening

[zacharykieler · 8/10 · 27 November 2019]

This was hard to watch because you know full well Texas executed a innocent man. They say justice is blind in Texas its deaf blind and dumb. Its maddening to watch because you wonder how people could be soooooo blind. Don't listen to the haters who don't like political movies. If you want a movie that's let's you decide. This is it.

Unrelenting Jack O'Connell - must watch

[popcolin · 7/10 · 2 October 2019]

This is the third movie I have seen Jack O'Connell in where he is a prisoner, after Starred Up (excellent) and Unbroken (spotted but also very good) and it leads me to believe that perhaps he has something to say about the prison system and prisoner reform.

All three of these movies have in common the unrelenting need to showcase the individual as true and real to their beliefs no matter the hard forces that oppress you. And this is a very important thing to teach, something we really do not see enough of.

This movie I cannot get out of my mind and I believe it is for the fact that Jack O'Connell is clearly a master of acting and he is speaking for someone who has no voice of their own: it is gut-wrenchingly powerful. Never before have I seen an actor so devoted to portraying the underdog who is really forced to come to understanding of a terrible fate.

These types of movies are valid because they give you not just the story but the feeling. The feeling of being lost and forgotten, yet heard by someone. I don't care who you are, deep down everyone should be able to relate to that: being unheard by the masses but remembered by few. It's literally one of the only things we can strive for.

I probably won't be able to change your mind about whether or not you want to sit through (**another**) relentless prison movie where hope can only come through as passive understanding. And I won't say that this movie is for everyone but if you are curious about some of the major inequalities (and I say major because instead of reform we are just erasing these people from society) that plague or beautiful and modern world and you can stomach a little short of 2 hours of intense character development in an setting where development isnt just unencouraged but definitely unwanted then you need to check out this movie. Just remember though that the hope is still out there.

And I just want to end by saying "thank you" to Jack O'Connell. Your efforts to bring awareness to these causes is greatly appreciated not just by me but by many. And I know he would never read this but i just want to add that his depictions of struggles through insane situations has increased the desire in me to enact change as well, and that is what art is all about. So a huge applause to him for taking on the roles that must be near impossible to shake off at nite.

And if you enjoy this definitely check him out in Starred Up and Unbroken, then tell everyone you know about these injustices because that is the only way we will ever change as a society.

Thanks for reading.

Powerful and moving

[steveinadelaide · 7/10 · 7 July 2022]

TRIAL BY FIRE (2019) is a powerful and moving film about the tragic case of Cameron Todd Willingham, who was sentenced to death in Texas for killing his three children despite scientific evidence and expert testimony that supported his claims of innocence. The film explores the controversial issue of capital punishment in America through Willingham's story and raises important questions about the fairness of the death penalty. TRIAL BY FIRE is sure to provoke discussion and debate and is recommended viewing for anyone interested in this critical issue.

Sad

[gallagherkellie · 7/10 · 5 April 2021]

When compared to the true story they did quite good. There were a few things not explained properly like who was the woman who told Laura Dern to write to a prisoner? And they didn't show enough of the ex wife and her feelings. However it was an interesting movie with good acting that got me teary.

Death row drama

[akcenat · 7/10 · 13 August 2019]

"Trial by Fire" is based on David Grann's 2009 New Yorker article of the same name and it dramatizes the tragic and controversial story of a case against the death penalty - by focusing on the real-life ordeal of a Cameron Todd Willingham, man executed in 2004, weeks after the emergence of definitive evidence attesting to his innocence.

Willingham is played by Jack O'Connell, who gives a very good performance. He was able to capture the man's initial naivety about the severity of these charges and gradually show a maturity which would have naturally occurred over the years he spent in prison. Laura Dern joins the film halfway through as a playwright-turned-activist for whom this case becomes an obsession and who works to have his conviction overturned. The two parts, his and hers, never quite successfully merge on screen, though the few scenes the actors have together work nicely.

Ultimately, "Trial by Fire" is an intriguing and surely not entertaining drama. As a film, it is a tough but worthy reminder of the illusion of fairness in real life and that justice is not always served.

Rating: 7

Wow, an excellent biopic production

[Top_Dawg_Critic · 9/10 · 19 August 2019]

Great directing and cinematography, and a fairly detailed account on the real story of Cameron Todd Willingham, played excellent by Jack O'Connell. Casting was great and all actors were convincing in their roles. Laura Dern was outstanding. The score/music was great and placed perfectly in certain scenes.

The first half of the film was paced perfectly and had great tense moments, but I feel the second half dragged out a little too long with slower pacing and overly extended scenes. The 127 min runtime should have been edited down minus 20 mins from the second half of the film.

Otherwise and outstanding production that had a roller-coaster of emotions and tense moments due to the excellent acting and technical details the filmmakers created. It really makes you think on how terrible the justice system was and still is, and how politics played out during then-Texas governor Rick Perry's poor judgement.

It's a shame this excellent production has some bad ratings/reviews, some reviewers saying it's predictable and cliched. This is how the real story played out, so any so-called cliches, sadly are actual facts. Thus a well deserved 9/10 from me, and a definite recommend if you can forgive the slow pacing in the second act. And if anyone thinks this review is fake, click on my username to see my 1000+ ratings and 700+ reviews. Now go see this excellent biopic!

Really impactful movie, but unnecessary long.

[M7SH · 7/10 · 14 January 2021]

Good acting, good writing even though I believe it could've been shorter and so much better. Some characters and relationships are meaningless and do not serve the story, some are kinda weakly-written. A good and impactful movie overall.

A travesty

[caveb-99096 · 9/10 · 15 June 2020]

This show is based on the true life events of Cameron Todd Willingham. As he is sentenced to death row for the Capital murders of his three daughters in a fire ruled an arson.

He was executed even though new evidence was available to state the prosecuting witness was paid off, the mental expert never spent time talking to Willingham, was later hit with loss of his rights to practice, and the prosecutor is faced with charges.

The system is broken and this is a prime example that it is. Good acting

A true crime story where the truest crime is his conviction.

[JohnDeSando · 20 May 2019]

Director Edward Zwick and writer Geoffrey Fletcher movingly craft a biopic about convicted killer Cameron Todd Willingham (Jack O'Connell) in the late nineties executed for killing his three children in a fire. While there are multiple instances of the filmmakers morphing incidents to make strong their case against capital punishment in Texas, the impressive facts in the case swayed the jury and the parole board and the public.

Yet Elizabeth Gilbert (Laura Dern), a Houston playwright, befriends him and finds strong evidence that he may have had a weak defense, local justice withheld proof of innocence, and forensic evidence showing no arson, was all garnered too late. Although more than half of the film is spent on unnecessary setup, when the biopic gets to Liz unearthing new evidence, it becomes on fire, so to speak.

That last half has moments of tension while at the same time following the Hollywood formula of manipulating music, questionable coincidences, and charming convict. Although clearly the filmmakers make the case that his case was bungled, they also make sure to depict Todd as a redneck loudmouth unlikeable by any stretch, until, that is, he has time to educate himself and be contrite.

Dern and O'Connell are convincing in their roles as unlikely friends, with a hint of romance, the film's singular weakness being not connecting them earlier and getting to the evidence gathering sooner.

Cause and effect

[PaxtonMalloy · 7/10 · 1 February 2021]

This pattern of movie we have seen a hundred times of someone from the outside world fighting for a death row inmate. Trial by Fire doesn't add anything new to it. It plays all the familiar beats but with great acting from Dern and even more so from O'Conell. But why do we get these again and again? Because they work. They don't just work because of good story telling but because you will feel sorry for the inmate. You will empathize with people being punished for something they didn't do and you will feel tremendous anger when you see a person getting killed like an animal. So every one of those movies needs to be there to make these strong cases against death penalty so that one day the United States learns that there is just no sense in them remaining the last democracy in the world having capital punishment in place.

More than a movie it's a survival guide to our justice system

[darrin_gross · 9/10 · 26 June 2019]

This is a true story that happens all of the time here in America. Willingham story is real and more common that people want to believe. I live in Texas and have seen it with my own eyes. This movie hits the nail on the head with one line "The system is broken"

Thought provoking

[sooz6069 · 7/10 · 13 February 2020]

This was a well acted and thought provoking film which should challenge anyone's opinion of the death penalty and the serious flaws in the justice system. It was quite a long film, but worth watching.

JACK O'CONNELL IS OUTSTANDING IN THIS SAD & HAUNTING TRUE LIFE DRAMA

[lukem-52760 · 5/10 · 19 December 2020]

This real life drama was truly gripping & heartbreaking & the brilliant British actor JACK O'CONNELL gives an Oscar worthy performance as a man on death row for a horrendous crime he did not commit!!! This is a true life story & a disturbing one too, you can look up the real life story as i did after this movie & it's still shocking that this actually happened & made me so Angry at the evil & corrupted Texas Justice System, the trial was a joke, a corrupted circus to make sure the guy went to prison & was definitely put on death row!!! The towns people had it for the poor guy & he was doomed from the start of the horrendous accident that had nothing to do with him & was a house problem!!!! I felt so sorry for guy & when in prison he sees a vision of his dead little girl & it's haunting & heartbreaking, JACK O'CONNELL is one of the greatest actors working today & was brilliant in '71 & Starred Up, the young actor is truly one of the greats already in my opinion & seems to be getting better & better!!! Laura Dern is also outstanding here to as the pen pal & only person to want to help him find Justice for the crime he did not commit. Now Cameron Willingham (O'Connell) comes accross as not the most likable guy but that didn't mean that he would murder his three kids & that's the point of this Biographical Drama as we are shown how all the evidence was corrupted & when the real truth starts to come out years later it's suppressed again to make sure this poor guy is murdered by the state!!! Texas is a horrible corrupted place & just imagine how many innocent people have been executed by them? This is a very sad & tragic story that i wish wasn't true.

Willingham was an innocent man & a loved his kids but everyone around him was evil including his vile wife so he didn't stand a chance but I'm glad his horrific story has been told & Jack O'Connell does his story & humanity Justice.

Very touching

[Gordon-11 · 30 April 2020]

This is a very touching story that makes you sympathise with the characters wholeheartedly. I really feel for Todd. I feel his pain and his hopelessness, so much that tears fall down my eyes. The story is very engaging and very touching.

Good gripping drama-Based on true story

[allanmichael30 · 7/10 · 20 April 2020]

Jack O'Connell shines again, he seems to be one of the up and coming actors that been around for quite a while now, but adds dept to his roles and improves the film he stars in and also Laura Dern has been given the best performances of her carer in all the films that's she has been in since Last Jedi role, where she seemed to be lacking. This film is based on a true story of Cameron Todd Willingham who was sentenced to death and died in Texas in 2004.

Well intended death row drama is too obvious

[paul-allaer · 6/10 · 28 May 2019]

(I am surprised that Amazon doesn't have a listing of this yet as a future DVD release, as it usually does for movies currently playing in theaters. But to be clear, this is a review of the MOVIE, not of the movie's poster.)

"Trial By Fire" (2018 release; 127 min.) brings the story of "baby killer" Todd Willingham. As the movie opens, it is "December 23, 1991, Corsicana, TX", as we see a guy just barely escaping a burning house and screaming "my babies are burning!". Turns out his three young daughters were still inside the house, and perished. T's not long before the Corsicana police and fire department start looking into the matter, and conclude that the guy started an arson, and before we know it, Todd, refusing to take a plea bargain, is convicted and sentenced to death... At this point we are less than 15 min. into the movie, and you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from producer-director Edward Zwick. Here he takes on the notorious case of the Texas Baby killer. It is a death row drama that is well intended (exposing social injustice), but alas is brought with the subtlety of a bull in a china store: "this is capital punishment: if you ain't got no capital, you'll get punished", comments an inmate at some point. This may well be true, but the movie bashes your head with this message over and over (cops: BAD, every single one of them! Texas judicial system: crooked through and through! in every single case!), and it simply becomes a tiring viewing experience. Laura Dern appears 45 min. into the movie as the well-meaning woman who (for reasons never explained) decides to take up correspondence with Todd (in the form of actual letters back and forth). Be sure to stick around until the end credits roll, as Zwick includes an actual news clip of then-Texas governor Rick Perry...

"Trial By Fire" premiered at last year's Telluride film festival to ho-hum reaction, and is now getting a limited theater release. The movie recently opened at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Monday Memorial Day early evening screening where I saw this at was attended so-so (about 10 people), and I honestly can't see this playing very long in theaters. If you are in the mood for a death row drama os simply are a fan of Laura Dern or Robert Zwick, I encourage you to check this out, be it in the theater (not very likely), on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

Makes You Think

[jackfulton12 · 7/10 · 26 February 2021]

Oh, dang... this movie is really heavy and sad at times. Based on a true story, a father denies deliberately setting his house on fire and killing his three young children. I don't believe in the death penalty (largely because MANY innocent people are convicted of murder), and this movie spends a lot of time on death row... at times, it's grim. But there's also hope in the movie and a stellar, layered performance from Laura Dern. Worth a watch if you can handle the subject matter.

Sad film, true reflection on today's world

[nezbitkn2 · 8/10 · 5 August 2019]

Such a sad story. And a frustrating one too. I'm not spoiling anything by saying an innocent man was executed for a crime he didn't commit as it states as such in the film explanation. Before anyone has an issue, it'd be like me saying the ship sinks in Titanic....

Brilliant acting throughout and excruciating to see how people ignore the truth right in front of their faces. Makes you lose all faith in the "justice system".

It says a lot that he has been proven innocent since but if the governed had just read the letter and stopped what was wrong with everything, a decent man would have lived his life out with pain and hurt but justice that he deserved and required to get over such an horrific incident.

I do reflect a lot on films that make me sad and think about you them maybe far too much but in this case, being true, it really does make you think how fickle life and some peoples opinions are, especially when you hear the real life governor talking at the end and people whooping and cheering. Wow. And the US is supposed to be civilised?

Has Some Good Parts, But Fails Overall

[socrates4 · 6/10 · 29 May 2019]

The acting is very good in this film, and there are a few scenes that are really great by themselves, but the sum of the parts does not hold up quite so well.

I think the problem is that the story is one we've seen over and over again and the characters feel somewhat flat, at least to a certain degree. Do not recommend.

Taken by surprise!

[myayla-49874 · 10/10 · 1 June 2020]

Really would struggle to fault this film in any way and in all honesty was surprised not to see a higher score. An eye opening but also eye watering tale which pulls on one's emotions for the duration. Beautifully crafted and written, with Jack O'Connell setting the pace from the word go. His best performance in my opinion since Eden Lake, another great actor making his presence known with what could have been a risky role to execute (no pun). Pleased to say he was on par with the best of them.

Bravo!

Fiction is always stranger than fact, movies prove it.

[apjc · 7/10 · 30 July 2019]

It's a good movie, well worth watching, but facts do sort of spoil it. Funny thing is this film seems to say that prison or death row is truly reformative. Our hero / villain starts off as an ugly, mean, vicious redneck white trash, who is transformed into attractive, handsome good old country boy. The brutal, sadistic prison guards become caring, sensitive wardens, what better advert for incarceration. Then a basic fact, if a propellant is found that's the primary cause, not the reactions causing flash. Many would be heroes have actually found themselves in the same situation and had to face the consequences, don't play with fire.

Powerful, heartbreaking and seriously underrated

[maccas-56367 · 9/10 · 12 July 2021]

Powerful, heartbreaking and tragic. This film is seriously underrated and I only imagine because its ratings have been influenced by politics.

Jack O'Connell delivered his career-best performance in this as Cameron Todd Willingham. The transformation of Todd is perfectly brought to life by O'Connell during the course of the film. It helps that he shares excellent, heartwarming chemistry with Laura Dern who has come to play such roles so effortlessly. It was a joy to watch them share the screen.

That's mostly where the joys end though. This is a sad film that takes the tragedies to a whole new level - just when you think it not possible. It will more than likely leave you depressed - as it did me. But it also does the story justice, and is sensitive in its delivery. It doesn't paint Willingham as some saint the whole time, which adds authenticity.

The bond which develops between Todd and main correctional officer, Daniels (Chris Coy) was great to watch.

Trial By Fire is a thought-provoking film and will not only get you thinking about capital punishment, but life itself. Highly recommend to those after a heavy-hitting drama, or for fans of O'Connell and Dern.

Still watching, thought to put a review

[trevorguru · 6/10 · 8 September 2021]

Movie is interesting, please hire a person who can do editing. Too long and slow.. I'm pausing and checking the time. Tell the small story quickly..

Not every movie can be shaunk shank redemption. So be really interesting in the middle or edit edit edit edit.

Painful to watch

[mini_meigh · 4/10 · 6 March 2021]

I understand this is based on true events and admit I don't know anything about the original story but I couldn't help feel confused. The acting was at times a bit much to watch, over dramatic and just painful to watch at times