Review by
Musanna Ahmed
Directed by: Destin Daniel Cretton
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Brie Larson, Tim Blake
Nelson, Rafe Spall
Jamie Foxx is a phenomenal dramatic talent. Despite being an
Oscar-winner, I still feel like his versatile ability is overlooked - maybe
because he clouds his acting career with an effort to be as versatile an
entertainer as possible, engaging in stand-up comedy, musicianship, and
hosting duties, including for his current Fox TV endeavor 'Beat
Shazam'.
Anyway, I felt compelled to write that after witnessing his astonishing feat as the wrongfully imprisoned pulpwood worker Walter "Johnny D" McMillian in Destin Daniel Cretton’s fact-based legal drama Just Mercy. His performance is the best part of the film, closely followed by Michael B. Jordan knocking it out of the park as attorney Bryan Stevenson, who founded the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI) and freed Johnny D from a death sentence in his biggest early-career accomplishment.
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The director has come a long way since the beautifully authentic
Short Term 12
but it seems like he’s lost his identity as a director, as
Just Mercy plays like the sort of fine-tuned, studio-polished
movie that somebody would more likely take on as an assignment rather than a
passion project. Besides the casting of Brie Larson, as Stevenson’s
colleague Eva Ansley, to denote this film as Cretton’s own, it looks like
the product of any competent director in Hollywood, cleanly designed
according to the playbook of making a mainstream Oscar-friendly movie.
This true story is a powerful saga of legal injustice, racial inequality and resilience (McMillian was in prison for six long years), which are all fine aspirations for a work of entertainment to have but the good intentions deserve to be serviced better than what eventually resembles a dozen other courtroom dramas. On the other hand, I see some merit in packaging this deeply sensitive story in a mainstream-friendly parcel for the masses to consume, and the casting of two A-listers at the centre should help it find that target audience.
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It would be too easy to dismiss Just Mercy as Oscar bait and
also perhaps unkind, because this story should absolutely be told,
considering the significance it has for the EJI, who have since helped
overturn more than 100 wrongful convictions and continue to work on
releasing innocents from death row. Not to forget, the American justice
system continues to suffer from related problems so there’s some unfortunate
educational value here too. However, a cynical perspective definitely sees
this film as an opportunity for its stars to enter the awards conversation
this year.
Alongside Just Mercy on the London Film Festival bill was Chinonye Chukwu’s death row drama Clemency, which is anchored by two incredible performances by the underappreciated Alfre Woodard and Aldis Hodge. With its more liberating constraints as an indie production, Clemency is far more formally and narratively daring, focusing on the rare perspective of the executioner’s role through its stoic, existentially challenged protagonist and fixing the camera on the actors’ faces for long stretches of time, like Bergman in Autumn Sonata. While Clemency feels like a bona fide festival flick, Just Mercy is more appropriate for a classroom.
Just Mercy is on Prime Video UK
now.