Conviction takes place in rural Massachusetts and focuses on sibling Betty Anne (Swank) and Kenny Waters (Sam Rockwell). They had a tumultuous childhood, including being separated for foster care. But now, in the early 90s, both have settled down and have families. This all changes when Kenny is arrested for murder, but then released. Then, two years later, he's arrested again for the same crime, where he's tried and convicted based on damning testimony from two women (one being the mother of his child). Convinced that Kenny is innocent, Betty Anne begins a campaign to see him set free. Despite the fact that she didn't finish high school, she decides that she will get a law degree and become Kenny's representation. As one would imagine, this is easier said than done, and Betty Anne meets many obstacles, both in her education and in her personal life. Meanwhile, Kenny is losing hope and finding prison life to be more and more unbearable.

There are several components of a good true story movie, but the key is that the story must be unique and worth telling. Conviction certainly meets that criteria. We've seen stories about incarcerated individuals who have claimed their innocence before -- that's not the interesting part of the story. And, smartly, the movie doesn't focus on Kenny. No, the intriguing aspect here is the real-life story of Betty Anne Waters, a woman who essentially put her life on hold in order to get a law degree so that she could help her brother. As the story progresses, we watch Betty experience problems with her husband (Loren Dean) and her children (Conor Donovan & Owen Campbell), as well as struggling with her schooling. She works in a bar during this time, and her only friend is fellow student Abra (Minnie Driver).

There's no denying that the drama is there in this movie. With every triumph Betty Anne achieves, another roadblock appears, constantly trying her resolve and Kenny's faith. However, aside from the constant Yankee swearing, the movie never rises above the level of a LifeTime movie. The story is interesting and the acting is fine, but the movie never has the intensity that it needs. Blame must go to Director Tony Goldwyn, who has never been very impressive with his feature films. The movie should be an emotional roller coaster, but it's simply never gripping. Other than the direction, the only other aspect that I can point to is Kenny. As played by Rockwell, he's not a very likable character, and it can be difficult at times to get behind Betty Anne's quest.

Unlike a lot of biopics, I wasn't familiar with the true story behind Conviction, so there should have been some suspense in the movie. And, at times, there is some, as we're fairly certain that Betty Anne will reach her goal, but because of some comments, there are questions concerning Kenny's innocence. The really odd thing is that the ending of the movie doesn't give us the one little tidbit that we need to know about what happened to Betty Anne and Kenny after the story here ends. This was an odd decision in a movie which feels as if its constantly aiming for the middle.

Conviction has the guts to trot out both Clea DuVall and Juliette Lewis on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 31 Mbps. The image is very sharp and clear, showing no overt grain and no defects from the source material. The movie was shot in a very naturalistic style, but the colors look true. The image is never overly dark or bright. The image shows a good amount of detail and depth. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.8 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. Being a drama, we aren't treated to a plethora of great effects here, but the track holds its own. Some crowd scenes provide mild stereo and surround effects. These effects show good detail and compliment the dialogue, which is the most important aspect here.

The Conviction Blu-ray Disc contains only one extra feature. "A Conversation with Tony Goldwyn & Betty Anne Waters" (10 minutes) has the director and the real-life inspiration for the film discussing the story. Here, we (sort of) learn the crushing trust of what happened in the end. I'm still not sure why this information wasn't in the movie, save for the fact that everyone would have felt awful when they left the theater. That aside, we learn that the movie sticks to the truth and that Waters approves.