Review of Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017) by Connor S — 27 Nov 2017

Dan Gilroy expertly portrayed a seedy underbelly of Los Angeles with Night Crawler. Because of that, I had high hopes for his latest movie, Roman J. Israel, Esq. Unfortunately, this new movie does not live up to its predecessor. If it wasn't for a standout performance by Denzel Washington (Training Day), this movie would be a total let-down.

Roman J. Israel, Esq. tries to follow in the footsteps of Nightcrawler by providing a social critique of an often ignored part of America. It is a morality tale and a story of midlife crisis. While it is interesting to watch an aged idealist struggle to stay true to his principles in a world that has no use for them, that story gets muddled with a late shift into thriller territory. Nightcrawler was itself an excellent thriller, so Gilroy should at this point be a natural at this genre. Not only is this an unwelcome change of pace, it also fail at being a thriller. The suspense depends on the characters behaving in ways that don't make a lot of sense. Though this film has the urgent music of a thriller, it doesn't carry the urgency of one.

Sometimes, an actor's performance alone can be enough to save a movie. This is one of those cases. Washington plays a rare unique character. Roman is, of course, a brilliant man, but he lacks the social skills of the typical Hollywood star. He stammers, pauses, speaks deliberately but still sometimes misspeaks. Oftentimes, his lack of people skills gets him in actual trouble. Sporting an afro, off-color suits, and headphones around his neck, Washington looks more like Cornel West than your average leading man. Both Colin Farrell (In Bruges) and Carmen Ejogo (Selma) make great foils to Roman, although Ejogo never gets to be her own character. Roman J. Israel, Esq.'s main appeal is its title character. Though the rest of the movie is frustrated potential, Roman alone just might be enough to make this movie worth seeing.