Film Review - Just Mercy (12A)

You're the only one who cared enough to fight for me.

A recent post on my Facebook asked the question why Just Mercy has been snubbed during the 2020 awards season. I have no clear answer to that, just as I'm confounded by much of the politics surrounding awards nominations year on year. It's at least partly to do with which movies studios choose to push, that much I know. But every time the Globes and the BAFTAs and the Oscars come around there are quality films that escape attention, so that as the end credits roll, you sit wondering why. Add this film to that list.

Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Black Panther) plays Bryan Stevenson, real-life lawyer who for over thirty years has defended Death Row inmates in Alabama - backed up by the work of the Equal Justice Initiative that he himself founded and motivated by the disproportionate number of black men facing the death penalty. One of his early cases was the defence of Walter McMillian (played here by Jamie Foxx), a family man convicted of murdering a white teenage girl based on dubious testimony and in the face of substantial evidence to the contrary. It's a rough baptism for the Harvard-educated lawyer, one that pits him against political intransigence and Deep South racism, as he strives to achieve justice for both his client and for the man's family.

Just Mercy is - no doubt about it - a conventionally told story, the shape of which you'll find very familiar. There's the miscarriage of justice and the warrior-lawyer fighting to right it.There are long nights of trawling through witness statements and police reports, leading to charged courtroom showdowns. There's obfuscation, frustration and despair along with moments of uplift and hope. You've seen it all done before - but seldom have you seen it done so well and never with greater conviction. Add to that its firm roots in Stevenson's autobiographical account and pointing out the movie's adherence to tropes becomes utterly redundant.

The passion in this project runs deep. Jordan, who was instrumental in getting the film made, is a well of compassion as the single-minded lawyer and social activist he so clearly reveres. He's also quietly forceful and commanding in the court scenes - this is the antithesis of A Few Good Men's 'I want the truth' theatrics, but tellingly it's even more powerful. Foxx is the best he's been since 2012's Django Unchained, partly because he's given reason and scope to be so through a poignant screenplay co-written by director Destin Daniel Cretton, partly due to the authenticity he emanates as the proud but anguished death row inmate. Put these two leads together in a scene and you've got something profoundly and memorably intense.

The drama extends well outside the courtroom too. One story thread movingly explores Walter's camaraderie with his fellow inmates (Rob Morgan and Long Shot's O'Shea Jackson Jnr., both fleshing out Stevenson's struggle with the system). Another gives us glimpses into the expanding work of the lawyer's EJI organisation, represented chiefly though the tireless support of fellow-advocate Eva Ansley (Brie Larson). And there's a warm yet nuanced portrayal of the extended McMillian family, with Karan Kendrick heart-wrenching as his wife. This is a film that excels in its character detail - even when it comes to its potentially two-dimensional support roles. When you cast Tim Blake Nelson as the supposed eye-witness who framed McMillian, or Rafe Spall as the attorney blocking the man's retrial, you know the film is aiming at authenticity over cheap emotional beats.

I watched Just Mercy on the same afternoon as Bombshell - vastly different films in style, but both delivering real punch in a provocative 'state of the American nation' double-whammy. Cretton's movie, the less flashy, more traditionally structured of the two, has flown sadly under that awards radar. It's a genuine shame, because this is a story of immense power and moral weight, one that earns its transformative final moments much like Stevenson has fought for each legal and moral victory of his career. It carries a hefty message for sure, but one that connects, due to this being a fine film. It's one that I urge you to see right away.

Gut Reaction: I rate a movie's intensity based on how much time my hand grips my face. Just Mercy had my hand clamped to my jaw like the parasite from Alien.

Memorable Moment: One inmate's time runs out. (A sequence of understated yet breathtaking power.)

Ed's Verdict: 8/10. Evoking anger, compassion and hope, this is a cry for justice and humanity that comes right from the hearts of all involved, backed up by rock-solid film-making. Great stuff.