Roman J. Israel, Esq.

There are films that are based on a true story and those that are pure fiction, but once in a while we come across a film that is fiction, however it is conveyed so convincingly that it could almost be based on a true story. After seeing "Roman J. Israel, Esq.", you'll understand that fiction could appear as fact.

This film is a dramatic thriller set in the underbelly of the overburdened Los Angeles criminal court system, where guilty and innocent blur together so it's incredibly difficult to know one from the other due to all the legal red tape of plea bargains, continuances, re-trials, and long processes.

Roman J. Israel (Denzel Washington) is a brilliant, stubbornly dedicated, passionate lawyer who has spent his life doing pro bono work for little financial reward. When his legal partner dies and he ends up being hired by ambitious, cutthroat lawyer, George Pierce (Colin Farrell) to work in his firm, Israel subsequently becomes involved in a complicated murder case that offers him an opportunity to get rich if he compromises his ethics.

Others to round out the cast are Carmen Ejogo as Maya Alston, Lynda Gravatt as Vernita Wells, Amanda Warren as Lynn Jackson, Hugo Armstrong as Fritz Molinar, Sam Gilroy as Connor Novick, Tony Plana as Jesse Salinas, DeRon Horton as Derrell Ellerbee and Amari Cheatom as Carter Johnson.

This film was directed by seasoned writer, Dan Gilroy ("Nightcrawler" '14). Undoubtedly, he received this project because of his directorial debut of "Nightcrawler". That film's direction was incredibly powerful, and this filmmaker's ability of how he was able to extract the eerie emotions out of Jake Gyllenhaal was amazing. In this film, the same nuances he was able to impress upon Washington was perfection. Of course, Washinton is a consummate actor, still his performance was still motivated by talented direction that Gilroy conveyed so well. It was also written by Dan Gilroy ("Freejack" '92, "Chasers" '94, "Two for the Money" '05, "The Fall" '06, "The Bourne Legacy" '12, "Nightcrawler" '14, "Kong: Skull Island" '17). Where he lacks experience in the director's chair, he more than makes up for as a writer. This is one of a handful of films where even the film moved a bit slow, it was still able to capture my attention from minute one to last. Most films can't do this, but somehow the way this film was conveyed in story simply kept me wondering what was going to happen to this main character the more the film unfolded. Gilroy has already established himself as a seasoned writer guaranteeing him more work, however his ability in the director's chair is equal if not better than his talent to pen a screenplay. I would truly love to see him direct more.

I'm not sure what I liked the most out of this--the direction or Washington's consummate performance as this tired yet passionate, idealistic lawyer. Could Washington be up for another Oscar nod? Not sure, but given this subtle performance as a lawyer incapable of making it in this cold, greedy world, who knows?

Out of 4 Stars: 3.5                                   Rated: PG-13                                  122mins.