The Best Lawyer



Simply put, The Firm revolutionized the film genre of “thrillers” as we know them, smoothly transitioning from the “blow shit up” model to the more refined “what the hell is going on here?” premise. The lines quickly blur, causing McDeere to face relentlessly difficult decisions regarding what is legal and what is moral.



As shown, hitting the gym instead of the cigar club can come in handy when you're an attorney.
Photo courtesy of movies.uk.msn.com



Despite graduating fifth in his class from Harvard Law, Tom Cruise’s Mitch McDeere is still the best young lawyer out there (graduating fifth places him in the prestigious top five, while graduating first would have made him much too bookish and significantly less human as far as relatable characters go).

When McDeere is soon cornered by both the FBI and his corrupt law firm, we only see the seemingly inevitable lose-lose situations which could certainly result in death. However, through a realistic and non-watered-down depiction of the legal world, we are shown that McDeere is much smarter than the audience’s comprehension rate (you practically have to pass the bar exam just to understand the ending). Of course, this is actually one of the storyline’s greatest strengths. We clearly know that McDeere was able to beat the system which had him backed up against the wall, going on to become the first attorney who escapes the firm alive.

As the first John Grisham adaptation to hit the big screen, multiple studios quickly followed suit and sought to imitate Tom Cruise’s fantastic turn in this wildly successful legal thriller. While silly Broadway musicals are currently being adapted from such topics as The Wedding Singer to Spider-Man, it’s a wonder composers haven’t thought to turn The Firm into a groundbreaking new opera – then again, without Tom Cruise in the role of Mitch McDeere, what would be the point? The climax of Cruise’s eventual triumph hits us every time like the punch of Carmina Burana’s rousing coda.    

This is why Tom Cruise will always be…the best lawyer.