[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/primal-fear-1996_1622.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:Not intended to be a [[AmoralAttorney lawyer joke]]]]

''Primal Fear'' is a 1996 crime drama about AmoralAttorney Martin Vail (Creator/RichardGere) who defends an altar boy (Creator/EdwardNorton) accused of the brutal murder of an archbishop. Vail, at first only interested in the publicity of the case, soon discovers that there is more to the case than meets the eye.

The movie proved to be Norton's career-launching role.

Not to be confused with [[PrimalFear the trope]] of the same name, with which it has little to do.

Also, as the movie is a series of {{Reveal}}s, spoilers will be problematic.

'''Warning: Expect every example to be a spoiler for something. ''Proceed at your own risk.'''''

----
!!The film contains examples of the following tropes:

* AmoralAttorney: A {{Deconstruction}} of this trope.
** On the cynical hand, Vail knows that guilty people often have loads of money to spend on expensive legal aid.
--->'''Martin Vail:''' First thing that I ask a new client is "Have you been saving up for a rainy day? Guess what? It's raining."
** On the idealistic hand, Vail also believes in the system and its ability to protect the innocent from wrongful punishment.
--->'''Martin Vail:''' I believe in the notion that people are innocent until proven guilty. I believe in that notion because I choose to believe in the basic goodness of people. I choose to believe that not all crimes are committed by bad people. And I try to understand that some very, very good people do some very bad things.
** And on the realistic hand, the fact that the system ''is'' designed to place the protection of the innocent over the punishment of the guilty means that inevitably more than a few monsters ''will'' get off '''scott free''' - [[spoiler:Aaron Stampler is only able to get away with his insanity plea with Vail's assistance. A grisly multiple murderer thus ducks the needle.]]
--->'''[[spoiler:Aaron Stampler]]:''' Don't be like that, Marty. We did it, man. We fucking did it. We're a great team, you and me. You think I could've done this without you?
* BatmanGambit: [[spoiler: When Aaron Stampler takes the stand, Martin Vail baits the prosecutor into going after him, hoping that Roy will come out and prove to everybody that split-personality disorder exist. It works when Aaron conveniently turns into Roy and violently attacks the prosecutor. Of course we find out later it was all an act. "It was like we were dancing, Marty".]]
* BreakTheCutie: Aaron [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope appears to be this, until the film's twist]]]].
* ClearMyName: Aaron claims to be innocent and [[spoiler:Vail eventually comes to believe him despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary and the fact that most people think he is guilty. He's wrong.]]
* [[spoiler:DownerEnding: Martin ends up helping a brutal killer play the legal system with success and get away with his crimes. Martin and everyone else attached to the case is disillusioned by the outcome, or don't care anymore. The film ends as he leaves the courtroom building through the side door, not wanting to face the press. He stops to contemplate, and MyGodWhatHaveIDone is written all over his face.]]
* [[spoiler: EvilAllAlong]]
* ExtremeDoormat: Aaron, [[spoiler: or so it seems]].
* GollumMadeMeDoIt: What Aaron claims is going on. [[spoiler: Until we find out otherwise in the finale.]]
* HangingJudge: Hangin' Harry Shoat.
* HollywoodLaw: Let's put it this way. If you want to get away with a murder, you probably can. This is not the way to do it. Here's why: In reality, if his insanity defense worked Aaron wouldn't be "getting away" with anything-he'd likely be committed and spend the rest of his life in a mental institution, with actually ''fewer'' legal rights than on death row or serving a life sentence.
* [[spoiler:HydePlaysJekyll]]
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: [[spoiler: Aaron slips by asking Vail to tell Venable he's sorry about her neck. But he shouldn't be able to remember he attacked her neck, since it was supposedly "Roy" who did it while Aaron blacked out.]]
** [[spoiler: It may not have been a slip. When Vail comes back to point out the "slip," Aaron seems happy that he figured it out. He wanted someone to know what he'd done, and he knew that, as his lawyer, Vail would be unable to do anything about it due to attorney-client privilege.]]
* MasterActor: [[spoiler:Aaron.]]
* ThePerryMasonMethod: A variation, set up by Vail in order to prove Aaron's innocence; the prosecution badgers Aaron in an attempt to get him to confess, which causes [[spoiler:Aaron's split personality to show up and attack her]].
** [[spoiler: At least, that's what Aaron ''wanted'' you to think happened.]]
* TheReveal:
** Reveal #1: [[spoiler:Aaron says that he "[[MissingTime loses time]]" when severely stressed.]]
** Reveal #2: [[spoiler:Vail discovers a HomePornMovie where the archbishop [[RapeAsDrama]] urged Aaron and another young man to have sex with a girl on camera. The archbishop was an AssholeVictim of the most [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil special kind]]. The tape is a SmokingGun that both serves to make Aaron sympathetic to the jury and provide a motive for the murder.]]
** Reveal #3: [[spoiler:Aaron appears to have another personality, the psychotic Roy, who admits to killing the archbishop out of revenge, and it is implied that his condition is caused by AbusiveParents.]]
** Reveal #4: [[spoiler:In the last scene of the movie, Aaron admits to have been only pretending to have a split personality - and it's the kind personality, not the psychotic one, that's fake. "Roy" gloats about killing both the archbishop and his girlfriend, who was also molested by the archbishop - and says that he had only intended to kill his "slut" girlfriend; the archbishop was just a witness.]]
* StutteringIntoEloquence: Aaron stutters almost every other word, except [[spoiler:when he is (pretending to be) the much more aggressive "Roy"]].
* TeenGenius: Aaron, possibly. At least, he's able to [[spoiler: fool Vail and everyone else in order to get away with murder]].
* UnwittingPawn: [[spoiler:At the end, Vail realizes he just helped a cold-blooded murderer get away with it.]]
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: [[spoiler:Vail is thoroughly disgusted by the fact that Aaron tells him "[they] fucking did it" about getting him off scott free.]]