The Trial of The Chicago 7 oddly feels dated, like it could've released a decade ago. Coming from Aaron Sorkin, I think many expected more and better, which in some ways it's this movie's biggest downfall. Not to say that this is a badly made film at all, it's well made in every aspect, an impressive sophomore directorial debut by Sorkin, but it lacks just that touch to make it feel something more than just "good." All of the performances are good, but there's none I would consider to be truly great. One of the only performances that really stands out is Sacha Baron Cohen as Abbie Hoffman and even he feels like he's holding back. What truly deserves praise is the structure given to the story as it cuts from the court room to flashbacks making what's mostly a slow court trial quite engaging. However, what is left is a competently made Hollywood historical piece, with an important, but shallowly presented message. The movie barely takes any time to actually delve into these characters and show us what they're dealing with. 2 of the Chicago 7, Lee Weiner and John Froines, barely get any screen time since they're mostly pointless to the story, but it could've been interesting to see more of their perspective on essentially getting used by the court. The other performance that stands out is Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Bobby Seale. I thought that section of the movie was one of the more compelling, and should've been focused on more instead of forgetting it after he leaves the trial. The antagonists are just portrayed as dumb bad guys when they could've been far more developed to give a deeper analysis of the system and government. The message is definitely important, but all this movie ends up saying is "Government bad, system flawed." Ultimately, I would still consider this to be a good movie, I mean there's nothing I could really point out and call bad, but it had the potential to be a powerful examination of the government, system, court, etc. This just ends up feeling like the yearly Hollywood crowd pleasing historical piece that paints a nice picture of the events from afar, but lacks the fine details once you take a step closer to examine it.
(7/10)
(7/10)