Just Mercy is powerful. It needs to be that way as it is attempting to convey an important message.
The movie is about Bryan Stevenson played by Michael B. Jordan. After graduating from Harvard, he heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly convicted by an unfair justice system. He recruits a local advocate and first employee at his law firm, Eva Ansley, played by Brie Larson.
It starts out by showing Walter McMillian, played by Jamie Foxx, at his day job and heading home. While heading home, he gets pulled over by the police, and immediately arrested for the murder of an 18-year-old girl. The movie follows Bryan Stevenson trying to right the wrong that is the conviction of Walter. He fights against a racist and unfair justice system at every turn. He is intimidated by cops and Eva has threats against her family. It is amazing what he went through in this case.
As the movie moves on, you see just how much evidence there was to exonerate Walter and how much the system wanted to see him convicted. Michael B. Jordan is excellent throughout this movie at showing the pressures and turmoil of fighting against this system and the injustice. While Michael B. Jordan was fantastic, it was another excellent performance turned in from Jamie Foxx as Walter.
Jamie Foxx did a great job showing the turmoil of being on death row for a crime he didn’t do. He showed the way the consistent defeats had beaten him down and how he and Bryan Stevenson eventually became close friends. Just imagine knowing that you are wrongly convicted, but everybody else just sees a black man who is guilty.
I don’t want to spoil the end of this movie, but I am sure audiences will leave satisfied and inspired. I left a bit angry, just because of how Walter was railroaded, but as I said I left the theater happy and satisfied ultimately.
The cinematography of the movie was well done as was the storytelling. All of the performances were fantastic, and Michael B. Jordan or Jamie Foxx not being nominated for an Oscar for this role is wrong. Hopefully, we see more movies that show us stories similar to Just Mercy. It is a powerful and riveting story and I hope you all enjoy as much as I did.
If you enjoyed this review of Just Mercy and want to read another movie review please click here.
Leave a Reply