Review of Free State of Jones (2016) by Justin D — 10 Feb 2017

Did it live up to its full potential? No. Did it do a great job of telling a story that has evaded most high school civic books for decades? I think so. I think people (critics) came in expecting the wrong type of move but all along Gary Ross wanted to tell the story of Newton Knight and he did just that.

A very strong performance by the lead Matthew McConaughey, as always but Mahershala Alia also did a phenomenal job as many of the cast did. Was it a long movie that moved a slow pace? Absolutely but it did have to cover a long stretch of time.

Not just slavery but the period of reconstruction, Jim Crow laws, etc. I think in the future we will look back at this movie as a classic that critics just got wrong. The biggest problem was releasing this as a summer movie when everyone wants comedies and action thrillers.

If this film was released in November it would have been Oscar bait for McConaughey. I give it a B.