Act of Love is the story of one brother showing off on a motorcycle and falling. He falls on his neck and shoulder and ends up in the hospital. His younger brother (Ron Howard) feels enormous sympathy, and then it's determined later that his bro is going to be paralyzed from the neck down. There is a bit of drama around this naturally, and it only gets worse when the paralyzed guy says that if he is not able to be treated, he wants to die, and would like his brother to kill him.
Naturally, this creates a tension where Ron Howard decides what to do. In a chilling sequence, he does it a few scenes later. What follows is a progressive vision of the trial afterwards, featuring the steps the lawyer takes and what they both do to take on the charges of manslaughter.
Like the 70s set, a dramatic and emotionally charged movie holds my attention better than the average stuff on this set. The actors are pretty decent, and the drama of the story is believable and well executed. There are very dynamic turns along the way, and they also chose to have Ron Howard feel certain amounts of doubt about the verdict and his actions.
I do wish they had a bit more about the verdict and the ending, and if I remember right, it also said this was based on a true story in the beginning. How about one of those captions that says what ended up happening with the bro that got away with murder?
I liked this movie. I think it achieved what it needed to and was better than the rest of this stupid set. Not amazing though. Just 4 stars.
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