Martin Vail (Gere) is a successful Chicago defense attorney that when he’s not in court on a case, he’s in front of the TV camera’s talking about his cases. Guilty is not a word in his vocabulary, it’s his job to get his clients off and whether they did it or not is completely irrelevant. When a police chase is captured on the news of a potential murderer covered in blood fleeing a crime scene at a Catholic church, Vail sees an opportunity. Vail uses his connections to obtain a prison cell meeting to secure a chance to represent Aaron Stampler (Norton), the former alter boy that now stands accused of murdering a local archbishop. Vail quickly wins him over and soon learns that Stampler has what he refer to as “loss time” or black outs and doesn’t remember what happened that day. Vail who first took on the case for exposure comes to believe his client is truly innocent and for the first time is making this case personal.

Could the great Martin Vail actually have a conscience or is he for the first time being manipulated by a client? That’s part of the fun of this smart courtroom drama with an all star cast that garnered Edward Norton an Oscar nomination and made him a star. This was also director Gregory Hoblit’s debut whom has since gone on to direct such films as "Hart's War," "Untraceable," and "Fracture.” Primal Fear is now available on blu-ray with a few bonus features as well.

First up we have a pretty descent commentary track with director Gregory Hoblit, writer Ann Biderman, producer Gary Lucchesi, executive producer Hawk Koch, and casting director Deborah Aquila. They all contribute some nice insights on the process and the making of this powerful film. After that we have three featurettes to choose from on everything in making the film. The eighteen-minute featurette entitled "Primal Fear: The Final Verdict” is a behind the scenes look with the filmmakers, "Primal Fear: Star Witness” is all about the casting of Edward Norton, and "The Psychology of Guilt” takes a look at criminal defense and how it was used in the film.

Primal Fear is one of those films that seem to have come out of nowhere but proved to be a powerful film with an equally wonderful ensemble cast. Now out on blu-ray it looks better than ever. Do yourself a favor and pick up the film and judge for yourself.

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