Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Very interesting. Wish ending was a little different but overall good movie.

Out of all of this year's Oscar nominations, one particular nomination stood out amongst the rest as one of the more surprising and questionable picks of the whole event; Denzel Washington in the Best Actor category for his turn in Dan Gilroy's Roman J. Israel, Esq.In one of the ceremonies most loaded categories, the ever beloved Washington snuck it out of nowhere (likely claiming James Franco's spot after the actor was swept up in pre-awards controversy) to be a part of the competitors in the field and while his turn in Gilroy's film is the best thing about Roman, its still a bit of a curiosity that this middle of the road event found itself in amongst the cream of the crop in Hollywood's night of nights.Roman J. Israel the character gives Washington a chance to go all nervy, OCD and a bit chaotic as the afro sporting, old-suit wearing defence attorney finds his life routine upturned after his business partner suffers a heart attack, forcing him to seek work at Colin Farrell's more corporate law firm, leading to a series of events that turn his quiet life upside down.Israel is an interesting character, one that's hard to warm to in the typical way as his such a genuinely odd and peculiar creation, but intriguing nonetheless and Washington is as good as you'd expect an actor of his calibre to be in the role and its clear he had a lot of fun bringing Gilroy's creation to life with the long-time A-lister gaining weight, letting his hair grow out and genuinely taking things to the more extreme as Roman's life spirals on in a whirlwind of bad decisions and curious friendships.The biggest problem with Gilroy's film is that the narrative containing this curious creature isn't as engaging or smart as it likely thinks it is and while there's some interesting questions raised about the current state of the law system in America and way in which Roman feels he can help improve it, a lot of the films wannabe big moments and gun-punches never really land killer blows and it's not hard to see why this dialogue-driven drama failed to ignite with critics or audiences upon its release late last year.Considering Gilroy's last film was the brilliant and dazzling Nightcrawler, it's a shame that his newest venture behind the camera isn't able to get to the same noteworthy level.Final Say -There's some fine moments in Roman J. Israel, Esq. and a typically solid (if not exactly awards worthy) turn from Washington but this crime drama with a unique premise never quite clicks the way in which we would've liked making it a watchable if hardly a must-watch event.3 U-Haul vans out of 5

So this one got an Oscar nomination, right? So it has to be good in some way! No it isn't. It's boring and it's no excuse that it's Denzel Washington and his acting is good in it. Guess what...he's a good actor, so no surprise here. But he is still not capable of making this movie in any way interesting or compelling. His character never becomes sympathetic or relatable. The story never sucks us in. When Colin Farrell comes in you expect some tension but even then the film stays petty. It's a big question mark above my head how director Dan Gilroy managed to make one of my favorite films (Nightcrawler) and then this debacle.

Utterly watchable, brilliant in every way. This movie seems to have either the highest review scores or the lowest, with little in between.A quality drama with an amazing and unusual story, the type of film rarely seen coming from the dross of Hollywood these days, if you have any insight and enjoy true movie value, this is one for you.I will need to watch this again. Some of the one liners have such wisdoms without in any way attempting to be 'wise', 'clever' or 'meaningful', but simply reflect the quality of the movie.