Movie Review: Just Mercy - A biopic about the role hope plays in defending the unjustly accused
, is a by-the-numbers inspirational legal drama that decries the American justice system’s imbalance against the poor and people of color. It recreates procivil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson’s impassioned speech to the U.S. Senate in 2008. Stevenson outlines a hopeful future, where the American ideal is finally realized, and everyone is actually treated equally under the law.
Stevenson’s initial research into McMillian’s case indicates that he was framed. The state has no concrete evidence, and their key witness is a felon named Ralph Myers , who surreptitiously got a reduced sentence after testifying against McMillian. Furthermore, a dozen witnesses are ready to testify that McMillian was cooking with them during the time of the murder.
Jordan portrays Stevenson as a man who’s never conflicted about his mission, but is unsure about the methods with which to achieve it. It’s this inner struggle that takes a protagonist who could have come across as an infallible martyr and grounds him as a person who just wants to do the right thing. Foxx appears to have taken some cues from
’s portrayal of Hurricane Carter, but eventually manages to put his own spin on the beaten but unbroken prisoner trope.occasionally relies on the expected clichés of the genre, and it doesn’t play many new notes, but it is also rarely off-key. Most importantly, it’s genuinely passionate about telling the tale of a man who sought the truth and applied it to attain true equality under the law. Perfectly executed or not, we need these kinds of stories these days.
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