The Star Chamber is a 1983 American crime-thriller film directed by Peter Hyams and starring Michael Douglas, Hal Holbrook, and Yaphet Kotto. Douglas portrays Judge Steven Hardin, a disillusioned and frustrated judge who feels powerless to stop violent criminals from walking free due to legal technicalities and loopholes. One day, Hardin is approached by a senior judge named Benjamin Caulfield (Holbrook) who invites him to join a secret group of judges and lawyers called The Star Chamber.
The Star Chamber is a group of judges and lawyers who meet in secret to review cases in which they believe justice has not been served and the criminal justice system has failed. The group is led by Judge Benjamin Caulfield, who has become increasingly disillusioned with the legal system and frustrated with the limitations of his own power. The Star Chamber reviews cases of violent criminals who have walked free due to technicalities or whose sentences were considered too lenient. They then decide to take vigilante action against these individuals, using their own code of ethics and standards of justice.
Initially skeptical, Judge Hardin eventually agrees to join The Star Chamber out of frustration with the legal system and a desire to see justice served. Hardin soon realizes that The Star Chamber is more than just a group of powerful men seeking vigilante justice. They are highly organized and methodical, with a strict code of ethics and a commitment to only punishing the truly guilty. The members are all deeply committed to the cause of upholding justice, even if it means breaking the law.
As The Star Chamber's actions become more extreme and their methods more ruthless, Hardin begins to question their methods. The group is targeted by the police, and in the end, Hardin is faced with a difficult decision: to continue to support The Star Chamber and risk his career and possibly his life, or to turn against them and risk losing his sense of justice altogether. The Star Chamber is a thought-provoking film that raises important questions about the limits of the criminal justice system and the desire for vigilante justice.