JUST MERCY: A Disappointing Real-Life Tale

Michael B. Jordan has given us one of the most memorable Marvel villains, brought Adonis Creed to the big screen with admirable conviction and honoured the life of Oscar Grant, the black man who was shot to death at Fruitvale Station. Now he stars as Bryan Stevenson, a real-life lawyer who took on the cases of those wrongfully sentenced in Alabama, facing unspeakable inequality and racism.

Behind the camera is Destin Daniel Cretton, who kickstarted his career with the wonderful Short Term 12 and later went on to direct The Glass Castle, both films starring Brie Larson. Larson, is here too, in a relatively small role, but as is the case with both Short Term 12 and The Glass Castle, Just Mercy is a film that runs mostly on the fabulous, authentic performances.

Full Of Great Performances

The film begins with Stevenson fresh out of law school and eager to help those in need. He sets up shop in Alabama with Eva Ansley, but finds it difficult to navigate the clearly racist environment. The film mostly focuses on Stevenson’s attempts to free Walter McMillian, who has been convicted of the murder of a white woman in 1986, a crime he didn’t commit.

Just Mercy is full of solid performances. Jordan brings in much pathos and vulnerability as Stevenson and absolutely nails the part. He’s fresh-faced enough to be the little fish in a big pond, but there is strength in Jordan’s performance. He brings forth Stevenson’s frustration and desperation plausibly and does his best work when there aren’t any fancy monologues to be delivered. There is quiet desperation on Jordan’s face when the system keeps beating him down, but Stevenson always rises back up. This is certainly the role of a lifetime for Jordan and he commits to it fiercely and with genuine compassion. There isn’t much else we could ask of him.

Equally great is Jamie Foxx as McMillian. His is the more flash-y, awards-friendly role and Foxx reminds us why he already has an Oscar. It’s a layered performance, one that doesn’t necessarily focus on the big emotional beats, but finds its footing in the quietly devastating moments.

Larson’s role as Ansley is barely supporting, she is granted barely anything to do and it’s a shame to see an actress as dynamic as Larson in such a throwaway role. She seems to be there to fill the mandatory shoes of a real-life person who was present at the events, but she never contributes anything meaningful to the narrative. This is where the tricky part of adapting real life to the big screen comes in. You have to include real events and real people, but you also need to give them something to do, something to say.

Although the performances are great in Just Mercy, they all feel carefully constructed and manufactured for the upcoming awards season. The film loses authenticity when it tries to clearly manipulate the viewer’s emotions. Rather than guiding us, it rams its message and emotional beats down our throats with too much force. There is a constant feeling that we have seen all of this before, regardless of how adequately made Just Mercy is.

Great Moments Untethered

There are moments of raw honesty. A sequence detailing one prisoner’s final moments is devastating and Cretton wisely doesn’t hold back here, but forces us to walk down that long corridor along with the poor soul who is about to meet their maker. Cretton showcases the compassion and companionship that these men have found behind bars, all of them sharing the same, inevitable destiny and the heaviness of that is constantly lingering around them. The unspeakable injustice faced by these men is heart breaking on its own, so it’s a shame the film keeps manipulating our feelings so strongly, when it’s never really needed in a film like this.

Just Mercy is at its best when it avoids nonsensical, pandering approach to its subject matter. This is a strong, interesting and heart-breaking story which doesn’t need to be underlined for us to understand the stakes. There are traces here of the brilliance Cretton demonstrated with Short Term 12, but Just Mercy would have benefitted from the more natural approach of Short Term 12 rather than the obvious and frustrating awards-baiting.

Another impressive moment is when Stevenson arrives to meet with McMillian’s friends and family. The scenes are filled with love and a strong sense of community but also paralysing fear and doubt for a system that has failed them and will most likely continue to fail them. Another particularly impressive scene is when Stevenson visits the prison is forced to strip for a search and Jordan impressively shows the variety of emotions; humiliation, sadness, rage. Again, there are traces of a much better, much more daring film here, but Cretton never delivers on that.

This is the biggest issues with Just Mercy; rather than be one coherent, impressive narrative, it at times feels like a collage of good scenes slapped together. The glue isn’t holding particularly well and the film ends up being a disappointing attempt to bring such an important story to the big screen. While Cretton tackles on race, racism and the justice system with anger, and ultimately hope, the film never fulfills its potential. Just Mercy is disappointing solely because the filmmaking never matches the importance of the subject matter and the character of Bryan Stevenson.

Just Mercy: Conclusion

While it’s undoubtedly a powerful story and film, full of great performances, Just Mercy feels like it’s designed to win awards, at the cost of authenticity and real emotion. Michael B. Jordan and Jamie Foxx bring vulnerability and remain endlessly watchable in this hopeful drama, but Cretton’s direction and directorial voice isn’t strong enough to make Just Mercy stand out from the crowd.

What did you think of Just Mercy? Let us know in the comments!

Just Mercy hits US cinemas on January 10th and UK cinemas on January 17th. Check out all the other release dates here.