Denzel Washington’s latest movie is about a smart lawyer. But it’s the audience that should raise objections.
Too bad Washington didn’t raise some earlier.
Admitted, he has a juicy part as the title character. Once a fiery, raised-fist radical — he’s still got an Angela Davis poster in his apartment — 40 years later, Roman’s the shy junior partner in a two-person law office.
Then the senior partner dies. And the reclusive, painfully self-righteous Roman has to join the real world in a hurry.
A world where some defendants actually belong behind bars. Where moral compromises are daily occurrences. Where the only question people ask about selling out is “How much you offering?”
That’s a good start, but the movie quickly flies off in a couple of different directions at once.
Is Roman simply a die-hard, PC lefty? Or does his behavior go deeper than that? Colin Farrell, a sleek attorney seeking Roman’s help on a murder trial, suggests he’s autistic. At other times, Roman seems to be having a complete breakdown.
Roman’s fashion sense may be stuck in circa-1974 “Soul Train” but frankly his character is all over the place. So’s the movie.
To be fair, it may not be the movie Washington signed on for. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, where the verdict was not great, by reason of insanity. So some scenes were cut. Others were rearranged.
It may have helped the pacing — the film’s about 10 minutes shorter — but it hasn’t helped the movie. The story’s unclear and the characters seem to contradict themselves.
Admitted, director Dan Gilroy — who last made the great, creepy “Nightcrawler” — is good at capturing the L.A. you never see on bus tours. Pawn shops, dollar stores, ptomaine taco stands.
And Washington is terrific as Roman. The character may be unclear, but the actor’s commitment is focused, and his anger and indignation are sharp and painful.
The movie, though, never quite makes a compelling argument for why we should care. And ends up only sentencing us to two hours of hard labor.
