It’s a rare thing to say that a Denzel Washington movie isn’t that great, but here we are.
Unquestionably, it has nothing to do with the longtime actor’s chops. Washington works with what he’s given, and in this case, the legal drama is needlessly convoluted and stilted, and frankly, doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Washington is the titular Roman J. Israel, Esq., a longtime lawyer who’s more comfortable behind the scenes doing case files while his partner does all the work in court. Israel is the brains of the law firm, you see, while his partner is the action. But all of a sudden, his partner dies, and Israel is left wayward and flailing.
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Enter Colin Farrell as lawyer George Pierce, who’s assigned to take over the firm. Once he discovers that Israel is a kind of idiot savant when it comes to law, he decides to keep him on staff. As with everything else in this movie, it’s tough to tell what his motivations are in keeping Israel on board — does he think he’s a genius and wants to exploit him? Or does he genuinely respect Israel? It’s one of many parts of the film painted with a gigantic surface brush.
C’mon. Is it really that messy?
It is. At the beginning, there is a feeling of cohesion, but it dissipates as the movie goes on. Roman J. Israel, Esq. premiered at the Toronto Film Festival this year, and after it received a lukewarm response, the director and Washington himself hacked it and rearranged scenes in the hopes of salvaging it. Critics who saw the TIFF version have said that it’s definitely better trimmed and reorganized, but unfortunately the premise still doesn’t quite work.
But Colin Farrell and Denzel Washington are such good actors.
They are amazing actors, there’s no debate about that. But Pierce and Israel’s relationship dynamic changes umpteen times during the film, to the point where you can’t tell if they hate each other or respect each other. One minute they’re arguing, Farrell’s neck veins popping out, and the next they’re at a Lakers game, chatting like long-lost brothers. Something’s amiss.
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Will Washington get an Oscar nomination anyway?
It’s possible. He, along with his other A-list colleagues, have been nominated for less. (Did you see 2014 Washington movie The Equalizer? Yeah, well, they’re making a sequel, so quality doesn’t seem to be a factor all the time.) In a way, Roman J. Israel, Esq. is his Forrest Gump Oscar-run attempt. Replace Gump’s “slowness” with Israel’s “abilities,” and there you have it. Yes, this movie is far darker and features a more sinister ending, but you can actually see how the powers-that-be (and probably Washington himself) thought this would be an award winner.
An element that needs to be done away with in movies — completely eradicated, actually — is the younger woman-much older man romance. (Last Vegas, anyone?) This notion that a young, beautiful and successful woman would ever be attracted to a mess like Israel, who happens to be several decades older than her, is so preposterous it’s laughable. That’s not to say that May-December relationships don’t happen in real life, but Washington is not Washington in the movie. He’s Israel. And Israel is rude, dishevelled, unkempt, strange, sullen, quiet, and consistently in turmoil. He openly sheds tears at her desk when they first meet, while delivering some rambling speech about his worth. Hot stuff, that.
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The unbelievability of the “love story” is another quality that impacts the movie’s success. Thankfully it’s a mere bookend and not a focal point.
So what’s the bottom line?
A miss for Washington, this movie could still be enjoyable to his die-hard fans. A few lines elicited chuckles from the crowd, but otherwise Roman J. Israel, Esq. is a slow, nonsensical burn.
‘Roman J. Israel, Esq.’ is now playing in theatres.
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