Just Mercy Movie Review

Just Mercy (2019)

Rent Just Mercy on Amazon Video // Buy the book
Written by: Destin Daniel Cretton & Andrew Lanham (written by),  Bryan Stevenson (based on the book by)
Directed by: Destin Daniel Cretton
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Brie Larson, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Rafe Spall, Tim Blake Nelson
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
World-renowned civil rights defense attorney Bryan Stevenson works to free a wrongly condemned death row prisoner.

Verdict
It's a movie with a message boasting great performances and a truth that still resonates. It's not a fun watch, but it is meaningful. People, many minorities, are wrongly imprisoned with no one to fight for them. Just Mercy humanizes those men, delving into the injustice present in America.
Watch it.

Review
This starts with Foxx's character Johnny D being pulled over. There's an undertone that he's being treated worse because he's black. When Bryan goes to the prison to visit inmates, he's treated worse than other attorneys. Many inmates have had bad lawyers. The movie doesn't delve into that, but pro bono lawyers aren't all bad. They're mostly overworked.

Bryan meets an inmate that's very personable, Bryan's age, and they share a lot in common. It's easy to say inmates are in prison for a reason. They deserve to be there, but that isn't always the case. This movie is making a point, and it doesn't detract from the experience.

No inmate has ever been freed from Alabama's death row. Bryan is committed to overturning Johnny D's case which is flimsy at best. Johnny D is resigned to his fate because that is status quo in Alabama.

Michael B. Jordan plays Bryan.

Bryan is in deep, and you wonder just how far things will go. The locals, the white locals, don't like him looking into this case.

There's a moving courtroom moment that I want spoil. I began criticizing the movie for having things work out too neat and easy, but then my expectations were defied. It's a neat scene, because the writer knows what we expect and how courtroom scenes usually play.

The power in this movie lies in what the movie reflects. It's a story that has and is happening. It's a display of inequality; a divide between those that make the rules and those that follow the rules.