DVD REVIEW: 12 ☆☆☆ 1/2

The most impressive cast of roaring Russians I have ever seen together in one film, and it's only necessary that it be a remake of "12 Angry Men," and I'm such a fan of the original anyway, I had to see "12."

It's star and director, Nikita Mikhalkov, in the Henry Fonda hero role as Juror #2, runs the show with a great romantic vision of civil dispute that's so worthy of the story it makes for a much bigger and meaningful film than the slums of America did for Sidney Lumet. (Tops to the photographer, Vladislav Opelyants; the movie looks beautiful and is shot with a great eye.)

The cast is just top-notch, probably some of the best in the Russian industry, who play each juror with mad conviction, angry and screaming like raging killers. For the whole cast it's a grand portrayal of the jurors, and for a movie near three hours I could watch these guys duke it out for another hour more. (If I have one problem, it's the subtitles swished by too quick as the lines delivered were so fast. I couldn't see how you would do it any other way. Dub it and sacrifice the great verbal performance? I don't think so. Dubbing would have killed this movie.)

Another thing I also like about "12" is how for this interpretation the jurors, going, one by one, from guilty to not guilty, were able to relate to the young boy under trail through realizations in their own lives, stories in their past that effected them deeply and hence brought them around to the empathy of the boy. The original "12 Angry Men" had it's jurors just coming to reason as the sole "non-guilty" juror was able to steer them to convincing evidence and conclusions. That isn't to say Sidney Lumet's film isn't human. Both films are, and very. And that gives it the meaning, and makes each one a great film.