Primal Fear
Of course Primal Fear's legacy is (justifiably) dominated by Edward Norton's insanely talented debut performance This is an uncomplicated and unnuanced reaction, but: I cannot think of a single better debut performance in film?, but what I came away most surprised by Including the "twist ending", which felt cheap and telegraphed by today's standards but not ridiculous, which cannot be said of other legal thrillers in the era. was the richness and texture of Gere and Lilley's performances. I have nothing against either of them as actors but — there's a certain We Have George Clooney At Home quality to most of Gere's work for instance, a sense of them being more of a well-executed archetype than a singular presence.
And that, I think, is the lens through which it's most fun to experience Primal Fear: a sort of gradual Dante-esque perversion of what feels like a standard SVU episode into hell: hell of the heart, hell of the soul. The hotshot amoral defender is revealed to be, in fact, a paladin succored and ruined by forces more wicked and clever than he thought extant; the wisecracking prosecutor discovers that she sacrificed everything and earns nothing. The two performances could not have been portrayed by "bigger" actors; the strength of their arc relies on the fact that you think you know who these people are from the very first time they step onto the screen.