Misconduct (2016)

Ben Cahill is a young, ambitious lawyer at a high-powered New Orleans law firm. He appears to have it all—a stable job, a beautiful wife named Charlotte, and a chance to rise in a firm led by the formidable senior partner Charles Abrams (Al Pacino). But under the surface, Ben’s life is strained. His marriage is tense after a personal tragedy—Charlotte, a nurse, has emotionally withdrawn. And Ben, hungry for a breakthrough case, is growing frustrated with being overlooked.

One night, Ben receives a surprise message from his ex-girlfriend, Emily Hynes (Malin Akerman), a troubled woman who now works as an executive assistant for powerful pharmaceutical tycoon Arthur Denning (Anthony Hopkins). Emily claims to have explosive evidence that Denning’s company has been covering up the fatal side effects of a new drug—information that could lead to a massive class-action lawsuit and launch Ben’s career into the stratosphere.

Despite warnings from Charlotte and his mentor, Ben takes the bait. He secretly meets with Emily, who gives him confidential files showing emails, internal reports, and buried studies. Sensing the opportunity of a lifetime, Ben brings the case to Abrams. The firm is thrilled and puts Ben on point to lead the lawsuit. Overnight, he’s on the radar.

But things spiral quickly.

The next day, Emily turns up dead in her apartment. The police call it a suicide. Ben is rattled—he saw her recently, and she didn’t seem suicidal. He starts to question everything. Did she really kill herself? Did Denning find out she leaked the documents?

Denning certainly knows something. He storms into Ben’s office, furious. He denies involvement in Emily’s death but makes it clear he will crush anyone who tries to take him down. Meanwhile, Denning’s own life is in turmoil—his girlfriend, Emily, is gone, and he’s now being stalked and threatened by unknown parties demanding the stolen evidence.

Ben presses on with the case but starts receiving anonymous threats. Someone breaks into his apartment. Someone is watching him. The paranoia builds. Then he discovers a GPS tracker under his car.

Worse still, he starts finding inconsistencies in Emily’s evidence—redacted documents, contradictory data. Was he set up?

At the same time, Charlotte pulls away further, suspicious of Ben’s late nights and his mysterious connection to Emily. Their marriage begins to fracture under the weight of secrets.

Things take a darker turn when Dean, a mysterious hitman (Byung-hun Lee), begins eliminating anyone tied to the case. He’s efficient, cold, and always one step ahead. He’s clearly working for someone—but who?

Ben follows a trail of clues and uncovers a damning truth: the whole case might be a setup. Emily was not acting on her own. The evidence may have been doctored to sabotage Denning and to pull Ben—and the firm—into a trap.

He confronts Abrams, who insists they push forward. But Ben is starting to believe his boss may be involved. Abrams has a long history with Denning, both professionally and personally. Could he be playing both sides?

As Ben digs deeper, he realizes Emily had a second agenda. She may have been trying to manipulate Denning, extort money, and escape her life. But someone else turned on her.

When Ben confronts Denning again, the billionaire drops a bombshell: he received a ransom note demanding $6 million for Emily’s safe return before she was found dead. He paid it. The money vanished. So did Emily.

Ben is shocked. If Emily was kidnapped, why is she dead?

Then, a twist—Emily may not be dead after all. Surveillance footage at a remote hotel shows her checking in under an alias. The suicide scene was staged. The body in the apartment wasn’t her—it was a setup.

Ben pieces it all together. Emily faked her death as part of a scheme to escape with the ransom. But she double-crossed someone. That someone sent Dean to clean up.

As Ben closes in on the truth, Dean targets him next. In a suspenseful confrontation, Ben turns the tables—outsmarting the assassin and forcing a confession. Dean reveals he was hired not by Denning, but by Abrams, who wanted to bring down Denning, eliminate loose ends, and set up Ben as a fall guy.

Abrams believed Denning would go down, the firm would gain massive publicity, and Ben—if he survived—would take the blame for any legal fallout. It was all a power move.

Ben records the confession and leaks it to the press and authorities. Abrams is arrested. Denning, while exposed for corporate misconduct, avoids prison thanks to a powerful legal team—but his empire begins to crumble.

In the aftermath, Ben resigns from the firm and reconciles with Charlotte. Their relationship, tested by lies and betrayal, begins to mend. He walks away from the legal world, disillusioned but wiser.

The final scene shows Ben walking through New Orleans, free but aware—justice is never clean, and truth in the legal world is often just another weapon.