Based on Scott Turow’s best-selling novel of the same name, Presumed Innocent is a 1990 crime thriller that still stands as one of the highlights of the genre. 

The film stars Harrison Ford as Rusty Sabich, a highly successful prosecutor who works closely with his immediate supervisor, Prosecuting Attorney Raymond Horgan (Brian Dennehy).  When their colleague Carolyn Polhemus (Greta Scacchi) is tortured and murdered in her apartment, Sabich is appointed to find the killer.  Meanwhile details of an affair between Rusty and the murdered woman gradually emerge, and forensic evidence further seems to indicate he was in her apartment the night of the attack.  Rusty quickly becomes the principal suspect, and with the aid of top defence attorney Sandy Stern (Raul Julia) and his loyal wife Barbara (Bonnie Bedelia) he must fight to clear his name amidst a sordid background of corruption, lies, scandal and bribery. 

Presumed Innocent is a stunning blend of suspense and subtlety, a tense, high-stakes whodunit of the finest calibre.  The film is buoyed by the excellent direction of Alan J. Pakula (The Pelican Brief, The Devil’s Own) and Ford is quietly mesmerising as the bedevilled prosecutor fighting for his life.   

The film’s real strength however is its depth of talent.  The inimitable Raul Julia completely steals the show in one of his last major film roles before his untimely death in 1994, and Scacchi is smoulderingly sensual in a series of intricately-staged flashbacks and vignettes that gradually relate the background of Sabich’s obsession. Dennehy blusters believably, and Bedelia gradually comes to the fore in surprising ways as the seemingly stoic Barbara.  In short this is a thoughtful and thought-provoking drama that will keep you guessing until the very end. 

On the visual front it must be said that the picture quality isn’t exactly flawless; the transfer is slightly grainy, though not distractingly so, and small specks and artefacts dot the print from time to time.  The English master audio is a 2-channel affair, and while it’s solid and serviceable it might disappoint those who expect a 5.1 True-HD surround mix in their Blu-ray releases.  The release is also bare bones, with nary a bonus feature in sight, though this is compensated by a low retail price. 

Still it’s great to see more titles being released in the HD format, and with a film as strong as Presumed Innocent the material, not to mention the performances, more than compensate for any minor technical deficiencies.