Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Controversy and legal problems follow Dr. Jack Kevorkian as he advocates assisted suicide.
Al Pacino delivers a commanding, transformative performance as Dr. Jack Kevorkian, anchoring this HBO biopic with real conviction and earning the film considerable prestige. The plot is solid and well-structured for a TV movie, tracing Kevorkian's advocacy through mounting legal battles and moral complexity, though it follows fairly standard biopic conventions without subverting the form. Cinematography is competent and period-appropriate but unremarkable for the genre. Novelty is modest — assisted suicide remains a provocative subject and Kevorkian a genuinely singular figure, but the film's approach is largely conventional prestige-TV biography. The ending, depicting Kevorkian's imprisonment and legacy, is handled with dignity but offers little dramatic surprise given the historical record.