Just Mercy – Review

A true story legal drama based on a book written by the real-life main character, Just Mercy loads up on the acting chops and delivers a great film overall. It is 1987, Monroe County Alabama, and men work in a forest, taking down trees for lumber. A small-time pulp business owner Walter McMillian (Foxx) heads home in his truck after a long day, but he is stopped by the sheriff and his deputies who block the road.

They look to jam him up for something they think he has done, while he protests that they have the wrong person. An 18-year-old girl was found dead, and Walter is convicted of her killing, as well as sentenced to death. He maintained his innocence at trial, but things do not look promising.

Intern Bryan Stevenson (Jordan) looks to pass the bar and get into civil rights law. He works diligently, and feels the impact of death row sentences. His classes at Harvard teach him the books, but his law firm internship shows him the realities of the system, especially when it comes to racial inequality.

As Bryan pushes forward, he eventually becomes a bar certified civil rights defense attorney. Despite this, his mother worries about his future, and the racism he will ultimately face, either directly or through his clients’ situations. As Bryan schedules meetings with new clients, he connects with Walter McMillian, and the story heats up.

Bryan works with mother and family woman Eva Ansley (Larson), and the pair form the Equal Justice Initiative to combat racial and social injustice. Despite being a lawyer, he himself feels the heat of bullshit bigots left and right, since he is the “wrong” color in Alabama. Eventually the courtroom legal drama starts cooking as Bryan looks for all angles to help Walter, especially since the case and court files reflect a ton of doubt on his actual guilt. Can this possibly innocent man get another chance at life?

Just Mercy contains a fantastic cast, and interesting true-crime story material. While it can be depressing based on its accurate representation of reality, it is an important film, and the emotions are there. The acting is phenomenal and the director’s ability to keep it flowing makes the longer runtime fly by. It touches on all sorts of feelings and consciousness, while reflecting the broken legal system of the U.S.

The film could have come across as preachy based on its subject matter, but it is all treated with care and should reverberate soundly through viewers of any color, assuming you have morals. It is a human story and well-crafted all around. There are plenty of emotional moments in this true tale.