256.
Just Mercy
8/10
Odeon has started to strong together their Screen Unseen installments once again and there was a big stir on Twitter saying that this was going to be Just Mercy. A movie I was far than familiar with and hadn't even seen a trailer for. Having a little look into what to expect, but not wanting to give too much away for me, Michael B. Jordan is going to be playing the world-renowned civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson. Bryan is going to be faced with the daunting task of working to free a wrongly accused death-row prisoner in a highly racist state of America. Starring Jamie Foxx as that prisoner and a little help from Brie Larson, this should be a great account of another true story. I have to be honest, if it wasn't for setting up this Screen Unseen, it would be highly likely that this movie wouldn't have made it to my local Odeon for a chance to see it. Let's see if this movie can be free of any criticism.
The storyline seems a pretty simple one with a linear narrative of the beginning, middle and end with no major changes coming in that way as we have a true story with the setting based around homes, town halls and the courthouse and jail. Straight out of Law school, Bryan knows exactly where he'd like to head. We all know the bad image that Alabama has had, even all the way over here in the UK when it comes to racism, etc. This was going to be shown within this movie so if you do struggle to watch some of these attitudes, this movie can either be something you may not want to watch, or one that you'll be glad you did. Bryan moves down to Alabama and immediately sets up legal representation for anyone who cannot afford proper services. We can already see the struggles he'll have as the landlords who own the office spaces, aren't willing to rent out their space for the cause Brian is trying to set up. Finally finding a place, Bryan's next stop is to death row to speak to anyone that he feels hasn't had proper representation and has the potential to be wrongfully imprisoned. Meeting Walter MacMillian, played by Jamie Foxx, he finds out that he was imprisoned for murdering a white girl in 1986. Looking over the case, he realises that it all hinders on one man's testimony and he wasn't even a witness. This guy only stated his contradictory facts to reduce his sentence.
The next step would be asking Tommy Chapman to look over the case. Chapman, played by Rafe Spall, is a prosecutor still looking to make his name and move higher up within the court. He instantly dismisses the case without even looking any further into it. Next, Bryan speaks to a family friend who was with Macmillian on the day of the murder and can testify for him and agrees to give a statement. After doing so, he is arrested for perjury and even though Bryan gets this guy freed, he no longer wants to give any sort of statement in a court environment. The third and possibly best option is to approach Myers, the criminal who stated for a shorter time in prison. He openly admits that he was coerced as the police played to his fear of being burned and even threatened him with the electric chair. With this new evidence and convincing Myers to stand up in court and state that his comments were false, Bryan heads to court for a retrial but is once again turned away. Disheartened and angry and chats with Ansley, played by Brie Larson and knows that it's time to go public.
Appearing on 60 Minutes, he asks for the public to rally. He heads to the Supreme Court and they overrule the circuit court, setting up the retrial or the case and Bryan immediately asks for the release of his client. Knowing that this is going to be something that everyone needs to get on board with, Bryan even turns up at Chapman's house to gain his support but is promptly asked to leave his property.
The movie draws to a close with the motion of dismissal coming, Chapman even agrees to join the case in the courtroom and MacMillian is reunited with his family. An epilogue finishes us off with information about the case. The main point is that it remains unsolved. As for Bryan and MacMillian, they remained friends, fighting for other cases until MacMillian's death in 2013.
This was a true story that the audience could get invested in. Although I'm not sure how popular this movie was within the UK, I'm glad that Odeon made sure we could get a viewing, even for a limited time. A true story always has the potential to be powerful and this followed those exact lines. Just as we are taught, nothing comes easy and for free and we have to see the failures before we get the ending we want and although Bryan was there to free the wronged, this was not always the case. We did see the struggle of starting, the trials of failing to stop the execution on another inmate and then finally the conclusion that we did get for the story. We can always come to expect this kind of journey, whether it be through a fictional or true story and although the audience would be willing the right outcome, with a moment like this and after watching 'Making a Murderer' on Netflix, I've come not to expect the norm at times. I didn't expect Rafe Spall's character to switch sides at the end though, I have to say that.
Speaking of Spall, that can lead us nicely onto my opinions of the cast. Starting at the top with Michael B. Jordan, I have quite recently seen him in a vast amount of roles. Villian in Black Panther, a cocky kid in Fantastic 4, serious and troubled sportsman in Creed II and finally the level headed serious lawyer in this installment. Showcasing his many talents, it's nice to see he's carried on with the roles since the disaster that was Fantastic 4. This movie gave him a bit more of a mature role from the other movies listed. He always has a confidence about him on the screen which would never boil over into a cocky attitude or overconfidence in any way and it would be great to find out whether this was a good account given of the actual Bryan Stevenson. Rafe Spall is another who can play the good and bad. Once again I have watched a movie recently called The Ritual, in which he plays the one remaining survivor in the horror movie and is portrayed as one of the good lads. In Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, he is back to the main protagonist and plays the role well as a slimy bastard. This movie is a leaf out of that guy's book. This dismissive character was fast becoming the villain from the first encounter that we have but this then flips on its head at the depth, even to the surprise of Bryan, as he finally realises the right thing to do. Jamie Foxx also gave a great account of Walter MacMillian. A man who was given no hope and accepted that, changed his attitude as the story progressed towards his freedom. Many other side characters ranged from good to OK but when it comes to Brie Larson's character, I honestly feel that it could have been played by any female and had the same impact on me. That role was not one that has stuck with me afterward.
In conclusion, I enjoyed this movie and once again it gave me the urge to look into the story a little further once leaving the big screen, just to find out where Bryan is now with his career. It showed the justice system for what it was at the time and although it may seem as though this could be a biased account of the situation, it was far from the case. There is a book surrounding this case and it seems as though the movie didn't touch on how bad this truly was at the time. It should be a film that you put on your list for some future viewing and hopefully, that will be the case.
8/10
Odeon has started to strong together their Screen Unseen installments once again and there was a big stir on Twitter saying that this was going to be Just Mercy. A movie I was far than familiar with and hadn't even seen a trailer for. Having a little look into what to expect, but not wanting to give too much away for me, Michael B. Jordan is going to be playing the world-renowned civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson. Bryan is going to be faced with the daunting task of working to free a wrongly accused death-row prisoner in a highly racist state of America. Starring Jamie Foxx as that prisoner and a little help from Brie Larson, this should be a great account of another true story. I have to be honest, if it wasn't for setting up this Screen Unseen, it would be highly likely that this movie wouldn't have made it to my local Odeon for a chance to see it. Let's see if this movie can be free of any criticism.
The storyline seems a pretty simple one with a linear narrative of the beginning, middle and end with no major changes coming in that way as we have a true story with the setting based around homes, town halls and the courthouse and jail. Straight out of Law school, Bryan knows exactly where he'd like to head. We all know the bad image that Alabama has had, even all the way over here in the UK when it comes to racism, etc. This was going to be shown within this movie so if you do struggle to watch some of these attitudes, this movie can either be something you may not want to watch, or one that you'll be glad you did. Bryan moves down to Alabama and immediately sets up legal representation for anyone who cannot afford proper services. We can already see the struggles he'll have as the landlords who own the office spaces, aren't willing to rent out their space for the cause Brian is trying to set up. Finally finding a place, Bryan's next stop is to death row to speak to anyone that he feels hasn't had proper representation and has the potential to be wrongfully imprisoned. Meeting Walter MacMillian, played by Jamie Foxx, he finds out that he was imprisoned for murdering a white girl in 1986. Looking over the case, he realises that it all hinders on one man's testimony and he wasn't even a witness. This guy only stated his contradictory facts to reduce his sentence.
The next step would be asking Tommy Chapman to look over the case. Chapman, played by Rafe Spall, is a prosecutor still looking to make his name and move higher up within the court. He instantly dismisses the case without even looking any further into it. Next, Bryan speaks to a family friend who was with Macmillian on the day of the murder and can testify for him and agrees to give a statement. After doing so, he is arrested for perjury and even though Bryan gets this guy freed, he no longer wants to give any sort of statement in a court environment. The third and possibly best option is to approach Myers, the criminal who stated for a shorter time in prison. He openly admits that he was coerced as the police played to his fear of being burned and even threatened him with the electric chair. With this new evidence and convincing Myers to stand up in court and state that his comments were false, Bryan heads to court for a retrial but is once again turned away. Disheartened and angry and chats with Ansley, played by Brie Larson and knows that it's time to go public.
Appearing on 60 Minutes, he asks for the public to rally. He heads to the Supreme Court and they overrule the circuit court, setting up the retrial or the case and Bryan immediately asks for the release of his client. Knowing that this is going to be something that everyone needs to get on board with, Bryan even turns up at Chapman's house to gain his support but is promptly asked to leave his property.
The movie draws to a close with the motion of dismissal coming, Chapman even agrees to join the case in the courtroom and MacMillian is reunited with his family. An epilogue finishes us off with information about the case. The main point is that it remains unsolved. As for Bryan and MacMillian, they remained friends, fighting for other cases until MacMillian's death in 2013.
This was a true story that the audience could get invested in. Although I'm not sure how popular this movie was within the UK, I'm glad that Odeon made sure we could get a viewing, even for a limited time. A true story always has the potential to be powerful and this followed those exact lines. Just as we are taught, nothing comes easy and for free and we have to see the failures before we get the ending we want and although Bryan was there to free the wronged, this was not always the case. We did see the struggle of starting, the trials of failing to stop the execution on another inmate and then finally the conclusion that we did get for the story. We can always come to expect this kind of journey, whether it be through a fictional or true story and although the audience would be willing the right outcome, with a moment like this and after watching 'Making a Murderer' on Netflix, I've come not to expect the norm at times. I didn't expect Rafe Spall's character to switch sides at the end though, I have to say that.
Speaking of Spall, that can lead us nicely onto my opinions of the cast. Starting at the top with Michael B. Jordan, I have quite recently seen him in a vast amount of roles. Villian in Black Panther, a cocky kid in Fantastic 4, serious and troubled sportsman in Creed II and finally the level headed serious lawyer in this installment. Showcasing his many talents, it's nice to see he's carried on with the roles since the disaster that was Fantastic 4. This movie gave him a bit more of a mature role from the other movies listed. He always has a confidence about him on the screen which would never boil over into a cocky attitude or overconfidence in any way and it would be great to find out whether this was a good account given of the actual Bryan Stevenson. Rafe Spall is another who can play the good and bad. Once again I have watched a movie recently called The Ritual, in which he plays the one remaining survivor in the horror movie and is portrayed as one of the good lads. In Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, he is back to the main protagonist and plays the role well as a slimy bastard. This movie is a leaf out of that guy's book. This dismissive character was fast becoming the villain from the first encounter that we have but this then flips on its head at the depth, even to the surprise of Bryan, as he finally realises the right thing to do. Jamie Foxx also gave a great account of Walter MacMillian. A man who was given no hope and accepted that, changed his attitude as the story progressed towards his freedom. Many other side characters ranged from good to OK but when it comes to Brie Larson's character, I honestly feel that it could have been played by any female and had the same impact on me. That role was not one that has stuck with me afterward.
In conclusion, I enjoyed this movie and once again it gave me the urge to look into the story a little further once leaving the big screen, just to find out where Bryan is now with his career. It showed the justice system for what it was at the time and although it may seem as though this could be a biased account of the situation, it was far from the case. There is a book surrounding this case and it seems as though the movie didn't touch on how bad this truly was at the time. It should be a film that you put on your list for some future viewing and hopefully, that will be the case.
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