This is a legal-thriller from one of my favorite underrated directors: Peter Hyams. Hyams made some fabulous films in the 1980’s. The Star Chamber was one of his earlier films and you can already see his keen eye developing. He also co-wrote the screenplay.

The film stars Michael Douglas as a young judge who encounters a series of trials where the criminals get off on technicalities so he and his fellow judges decide to take the law into their own hands. It grapples with some really interesting ideas of what justice is, who should decide, and what’s right and what’s lawful. Douglas is great as always. The supporting work by Hal Holbrook is excellent as well. The first 3/4’s are really outstanding, great tension, conflict, thought-provoking scenes. Where things go a bit off the rails is in the final act where a lot of the set up is discarded for some trumped up action chase that doesn’t fit at all with the plot or the tone. Despite that misstep, it’s a great little thriller and worth seeing.