Unbroken‘s Jack O’Connell carries Trial by Fire and gives a combustible turn as an unlikeable man who loved his children dearly, but who can’t get out of his own way.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 22, 2022

Trial by Fire... forces Willingham through a kind of poetic transformation.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 10, 2020

The intricate and emotional beats are played out beautifully on screen by Jack O'Connell and Laura Dern.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 7, 2020

Trial by Fire is beautifully acted, especially by Dern, who plays a woman who is looking for purpose while also trying to raise her kids right, even though they don't always believe in what she's doing.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 28, 2020

The performances are inspired. Laura Dern is excellent as always. It was also my personal introduction to Jack O'Connell, who is phenomenal as Cameron Todd Willingham.

| Original Score: 7/10 | May 20, 2020

The actress (Dern) brings her trademark intelligence and tenacity to the character, and the film also features strong supporting performances.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 4, 2019

Sadly, this cinematic retelling of a truly appalling story is too often hamstrung by its predictability and overreliance on the audience's outrage at Willingham's plight.

| May 31, 2019

Powerful stuff, but unpowerfully told, in part because the energies in "Trial by Fire" are split between proving Todd Willingham's innocence and building an argument against the death penalty no matter what the verdict.

| Original Score: 1.5/4 | May 24, 2019

Excellent performances by Laura Dern and Jack O'Connell lend credence to this message movie.

| Original Score: 7/10 | May 24, 2019

Despite its clumsy first-act emphasis on exposition and excessive length, the story is important and Dern deserves a nomination for almost single-handedly saving the film with her committed and engaging performance.

| May 23, 2019

It's a powerful enough viewing experience, but it doesn't leave you with much hope for what to do about injustice.

| May 23, 2019

Earnest, old-fashioned social-justice drama focuses on the death penalty from the 'what if we execute an innocent person?' angle, with hugely engaging performances by Jack O'Connell and Laura Dern.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 23, 2019

So I want to warn the rest of you: Watching this film felt like having rocks thrown at my face. It's effective filmmaking, I'll give it that, and O'Connell's performance as scumbag-turned-sympathetic-scumbag is one of the best I've seen.

| May 22, 2019

You come out of this film deeply moved and also overwhelmed by a group of memorable performances.

| May 21, 2019

Takes a fascinating, suspenseful true story and waters it down into a generic, maudlin, anti-death-penalty message.

| Original Score: C | May 20, 2019

The well-made "Trial By Fire" got lost in the recent awards shuffle, and it should't have been.

| May 20, 2019

The movie is painstakingly well made and murderously hard to sit through.

| May 20, 2019

It's a prestige film based on the true story of a man who is wrongly convicted of killing his children.

| Original Score: B- | May 20, 2019

Trial By Fire is an expertly-crafted work of art that doubles as a biopic and perceptive, dual character study, brimming with jaw-dropping performances led by the versatile O'Connell.

| May 20, 2019

Capital Punishment questioned and put on trial while revisiting the true life tragedy of Cameron Todd Willingham. Jack O'Connell king of true story tragedy is riveting

| May 19, 2019