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True Believer (1989)

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Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 1

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52

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Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 2,217

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Movie Info

The only True Believer at the beginning of this drama is idealistic young attorney Robert Downey Jr., who apprentices under the guidance of celebrated civil-rights activist James Woods. Alas, in the years since the sixties, Woods has become a disillusioned, dope-smoking ambulance chaser. Goaded by Downey, Woods takes up one last "lost cause:" that of Korean-American prison inmate Yuji Okomoto, who is about to be tried for the self-defense slaying of another prisoner. As Woods investigates, he

R, 1 hr. 49 min.

Mystery & Suspense, Drama

Apr 3, 2001

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Cast

All Critics (22) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (1) | DVD (8)

Woods' angry energy is clarifying as well as terrifying, and when he unleashes it (usually without warning), the effect is to focus our attention where it belongs, not on a suspense story but on the mysteries of human behavior.

April 16, 2009 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment
TIME Magazine
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When I see Woods on the screen in the first shot of a movie I sort of smile to myself because I know that something strange and offbeat and maybe even inspired is about to happen.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
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Ruben relies too heavily on Woods' whirring turbines to power his scenes.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
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What counts in Believer is not what happens but how. This is as good a how as any.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
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Woods, as ever, is wired for a fight -- in or outside the courtroom. It's all Downey Jr can do to hold him back.

February 27, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

Woods clearly relishes his chance to display a wide range of emotions within his patented maverick persona, and Downey also acquits himself well in a much less challenging role.

February 27, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

A riveting legal drama.

January 26, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Really clicks as a modern day morality play.

August 28, 2004 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | Comment
Spirituality and Practice

One of the best courtroom dramas ever made, and a movie that almost nobody knows about. A terrific picture.

December 15, 2003 Comment
KFOR Channel 4 News
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for True Believer

A defense attorney with a ludicrous pony tail defends a man accused of murder.I'm surprised by the critics' positive reviews of this thoroughly unexceptional film. Most of the reviews focus on Woods's performance, but whereas his other characters' extravagant posturing seemed to fit the situation and persona, here, he

July 30, 2011
hunterjt13
Jim Hunter

Super Reviewer

I don't think anyone could prance around in an outrageous gray ponytail besides James Woods. He plays a very unique type of hippie lawyer that I don't think i've ever seen before. Robert Downey Jr. also gives a classic performance as a bookish new lawyer trying to do the right thing. The story is interesting in that it

January 23, 2011
ythelastman89

Super Reviewer

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