Roman J Israel, Esq has a tour de force performance from Denzel Washington. He was Oscar nominated in playing an idealistic social rights lawyer who is great in doing the background stuff but terrible in dealing with people, advocating at court and doing things like plea bargaining. In fact Roman might have a great brain, almost a savant but his people skills in a modern world holds him back.
Roman was the quiet partner in his failing law firm with a salary of $500 a week. When his better known partner William Jackson who was the face of the firm and who did the advocacy has a heart attack, his practice gets taken over by George Pierce (Colin Farrell) a smooth operator who puts profit before people.
Pierce recognises that he can make use of Roman's legal skills, but Roman makes a big ethical mistake when dealing with a client who has information on a murderer.
The film is bogged down by a clunky story that is flatly directed. I found both Roman and Pierce to be unbelievable characters. I can understand Pierce wanting to profit from Roman's immense legal memory but not in Pierce's sudden zeal to be involved in social justice. I also could not buy Roman gaining a materialistic outlook which came out of the blue.
Roman was the quiet partner in his failing law firm with a salary of $500 a week. When his better known partner William Jackson who was the face of the firm and who did the advocacy has a heart attack, his practice gets taken over by George Pierce (Colin Farrell) a smooth operator who puts profit before people.
Pierce recognises that he can make use of Roman's legal skills, but Roman makes a big ethical mistake when dealing with a client who has information on a murderer.
The film is bogged down by a clunky story that is flatly directed. I found both Roman and Pierce to be unbelievable characters. I can understand Pierce wanting to profit from Roman's immense legal memory but not in Pierce's sudden zeal to be involved in social justice. I also could not buy Roman gaining a materialistic outlook which came out of the blue.