Roman J. Israel, Esq. - Movie Review - 27 March 2018
Roman J. Israel, Esq. is set in the underbelly of the overburdened Los Angeles criminal court system. Denzel Washington stars as a driven, idealistic defense attorney whose life is upended when his mentor, a civil rights icon, dies. When he is recruited to join a firm led by one of the legendary man’s former students – the ambitious lawyer George Pierce (Colin Farrell) – and begins a friendship with a young champion of equal rights (Carmen Ejogo), a turbulent series of events ensue that will put the activism that has defined Roman’s career to the test.
Roman J. Israel, Esq trailer
My rating
7.2 out of 10
This film was Dan Gilroy's second directorial outing, and although his forte is in his experienced writing, he failed in that department and did better in his directing which is evident in the success of Nightcrawler, one of the darkest and thought-provoking, ethically questioning movie I've seen in recent times. If you were a fan of Nightcrawler than Roman J will be right up your alley.
The problem with the writing is that some of the dialogue is dragged out mumbo-jumbo Denzel Washington had to say to express his savant mentality, most of it not making any sense or philosophically unnecessary and ensured an extended run time of over 2 hours.
Denzel really shows his acting chops and carried his role so exceptionally well, that had this film been edited down to 80 or 90 mins by getting rid of the convoluted and unnecessary dialogue, it would have been dramatized much better. His performance is so well recognised that it was the only nomination for the best actor where the film itself wasn't nominated for best picture.
Then there's the premise to the film; standing all this time for a cause, then slipping once to the dark side, then going back. What was the point? What was the message? While the concept of this film is nothing extraordinary the way it plays out is dramatic and entertaining.
To summarize the movie is good, at times very good. But it's a teeny slump after the knockout of Nightcrawler.
Seeing as Gilroy is fixated on exploring this concept it wouldn't be surprising and could be very entertaining to see him create his own 'LA Mental Case' cinematic universe.
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