Misconduct (2016)

Misconduct is the kind of glossy, grown-up legal thriller that lives for the delicious friction of power—money leaning on justice, ambition leaning on conscience—and it keeps tightening the screws with each new conversation and compromise. Watching Josh Duhamel’s hungry young attorney share the screen with Anthony Hopkins’ icy control and Al Pacino’s volcanic gravitas gives the film a crackling, old-school studio vibe, where every stare feels like a chess move and every deal has teeth. It’s slick, tense, and morally messy in a way that makes you lean in, not because it’s a puzzle-box, but because it understands how quickly a “smart” decision can become a trap. Fair warning: it’s pulpy and sometimes heightened rather than strictly realistic, but if you’re in the mood for a twisty courtroom-adjacent thriller with big performances and an R-rated edge, it’s an easy watch to get absorbed in.

Misconduct is clearly trying to be a slick, grown-up legal conspiracy thriller, with big-name actors selling a story about power, corruption, and a lawyer in way over his head. The problem is it plays like a checklist of familiar twists and shady-boardroom beats, so instead of suspense you often get a tired, lurid shuffle from one “gotcha” moment to the next. Even Pacino and Hopkins can’t fully rescue dialogue and plotting that feel clunky and oddly weightless for something aiming at high-stakes intrigue. If you love glossy, by-the-numbers thrillers and can enjoy the cast chewing scenery, you might get mild entertainment; if you want a smart, tightly wound courtroom thriller that earns its shocks, this one will likely waste your time.