Marcia Gay Harden

(On TV, May 2020) The main claim to fame for TV movie Innocent is being a belated sequel to the 1990 potboiler thriller Presumed Innocent (itself adapted from the bestselling 1987 Scott Turow novel). Well, that and an interesting cast, as Bill Paxton steps into Harrison Ford’s role, Marcia Gay Harden for Bonnie Bedelia and Alfred Molina for Raúl Juliá. Once again based on Turow’s own sequel, the premise is slightly ridiculous, as the protagonist is once again accused, twenty years later, of killing someone close to him—this time his wife rather than his mistress (although viewers of the first film will remember how it was the wife who killed the mistress, which would work in favour of suspecting him—except that the sequel doesn’t even seem to acknowledge that). It’s once again a complex legal thriller with murder, affairs and judicial shenanigans. It’s not uninteresting despite the contrivances, but still closer to a sequel cash-in than something that expands upon the themes and characters of the original—despite the better-than-usual production values, it’s still very much a TV movie. The twist at the end is rather pleasant, but it fulfills the expectation of a banger mic drop considering the example left by the first film.