The 1990s were still the years when Tom Cruise aspired to be a serious actor. I have the impression that after 1999 and the role in the masterpieces of Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia” for which he was nominated for the third and so far last Oscar, he simply decided to give up and dedicate himself exclusively to blockbusters and action spectacles. The 1990s were the year when court dramas were extremely popular in Hollywood, and films based on John Grisham’s literary templates were widely stamped. Two decades earlier, Sydney Pollack’s “Three Condor Days” showed that it handles thrillers very well, and “The Company” is a prime example of a quality commercial Hollywood film from the late eighties and early nineties.
Tom Cruise is Mitch McDeere, a poor young man of humble origins who finished first in class straight to Harvard. We see in the introduction that a number of law firms are vying for him, and he will eventually opt for the not-too-famous Memphis firm. The reason, of course, is money, since he promised himself that he would never be poor again and that he would never miss anything in life. He and his young wife, teacher Abby (Jeanne Tripplehorn), will go to the Tennessee representative, seem perfect, it will soon become clear to Mitch that by signing for this company, he almost signed a contract with the devil.
It will become clear to him that his company is involved in various suspicious activities, that many former employees have died under suspicious circumstances, and when he goes to the Cayman Islands with his mentor Avery Tolar (always welcome Gene Hackman), he will realize that they are actually laundering money. for the Chicago mob. This is well known to the FBI who will try to hire Mitch, and the young lawyer will find himself in an awkward situation as it has become clear to him that whatever he does will not end well. In the good two and a half hours of “The Firm”, Mitch’s life from a fairy tale will turn into complete chaos permeated with paranoia and justified fear. It was an exciting and tense thriller in which a number of other famous actors appear, such as Ed Harris, Hal Holbrook, Terry Kinney, Gary Busey, David Strathairn and Holly Hunter, who was nominated for an Oscar for supporting actress.