Review of Free State of Jones (2016) by Jason S — 05 Jul 2016

While the premise and the historical context of this movie are fantastic, it falls short of being a solid film in many regards.

First of all, it continually jumps between the 1860s and later the 1870s and a trial that occurred in Mississippi in 1965. While the connective tissue between the two is obvious, the relevancy to what Newt Knight did in the during and after the Civil War and what happened to his great grandson 100 years later is thin. The film would have been far better served to solely focus on Newt Knight's life, and then perhaps have some epilogue text about the trial in the 1960s. Instead, the viewer is left with a jostled and disjointed story that tries to be two separate stories, and thus doesn't completely deliver on either.

The second problem with Jones is that it jumps between time periods too quickly. First it's 1862, then it's 1863, then the war is over, then it's the 1870s. Certainly there were more exciting events in Newt Knight's life that were worth including in the movie?

This story had such great potential and McConaughey does a great job, as does the rest of the cast. But that just can't overcome the random flash forward, flash backward stories.