Primal Fear -1996- !new! < Top 50 Trusted >

Norton underwent a radical transformation. For the first two-thirds of the film, he is a lamb. He sweats. He stutters. He looks at the floor. He breaks down crying on the witness stand, apologizing to the dead Archbishop. You feel sorry for him. The audience, like Martin Vail, is manipulated into believing this is a case of a traumatized child breaking under pressure.

For film students, watching Primal Fear is a required lesson in acting. Edward Norton’s performance is studied for how to play dissociative identity disorder without cliché. Primal Fear -1996-