Gary Oldman plays Ben Chase, a brash young defense attorney whose success is built on his willingness to manipulate the judicial system for the benefit of his clients. In spite of his career success as an attorney Ben is starting to show signs of serious alcoholism. When he successfully defends Martin Thiel, the scion of a wealthy, prominent family, against a murder charge, the game turns on him.
Martin lures Ben to the scene of another murder and retains Ben to defend him, even before he is charged. Knowing his client is guilty, Ben struggles at last with the reality of his ethics, until he resolves to oppose Martin secretly, hoping he will incriminate himself. As Martin’s ultimate plan unfolds, both he and Ben will be forced to reexamine everything they hold to be true.
wrote: "Criminal Law is a textbook example of a movie going wrong before our very eyes, because of the curious failure of the filmmakers to realize that you can toy with an audience only so long before the audience grows resentful... It's a shame such good performances were lost." Variety commended the work of Oldman and Bacon, but criticized the story's "ill-defined pretensions as an essay on the American legal system and a herky-jerky continuity that's fatiguing instead of tingling". Kevin Thomas felt that Criminal Law "proceeds from one weakness to another", but described Oldman as "electrifying". Peter Travers was less impressed by Oldman's performance, writing: "Oldman is a powerhouse... But what's a British actor doing playing a Harvard attorney in a Boston-based movie shot in Montreal? Flailing about like a drowning man, that's what. Oldman's laughably in-and-out." He had additional criticism for the film's "overwrought script" and lack of "logic" and "subtlety". Slightly more favorable was Linda Rasmussen of AllMovie, who wrote that Oldman "gives an excellent performance", described Bacon as "intriguing and ambiguous", and praised the direction and action sequences. She concluded: "Criminal Law, if not taken very seriously and with more than a grain of salt, can be entertaining, but it fails miserably when compared to accurate, exciting legal thrillers such as Primal Fear. The film holds a 33% approval rating at review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 9 reviews, with an average score of 4.6/10.
