Just Mercy (2019)

Director Destin Daniel Cretton's account of the real life story of wrongfully convicted death row inmate Walter McMillan and his lawyer, anti-capital punishment crusader Bryan Stevenson, is rather straight forward and formulaic but manages despite this to still find power in its message about how race and injustice intersect in the American judicial system through the lens of these admirable men. The film is a mix between being often far too on the nose yet finding some small moments which help dig under the surface a bit more than the film generally seems interested in.

Subtly isn't Just Mercy's strong suit. Characters are mostly caricatures, two dimensional. The just are either motivated saviors whose only flaws are wanting to help too much (Michael B Jordan, Brie Larson) or ignorant but innocent victims (Jamie Foxx), and the bad guys go out of their way to be nasty folks who throw around the N word and threaten good people. Perhaps this has to do with the actual events surrounding McMillan's case, a text book example of systemic racism in the Southern US justice system. Perhaps it is the blatant nature of the corruption in this case which makes the story feel rah rah rah yet somewhat less complex. There is no nuance here so the movie almost feels like a superhero blockbuster with the caped crusader taking down the mustache twirling villain instead of a hard hitting exploration of the ways systemic racism affects the lives of real people.

While the film may make us rightfully mad will it motivate us to do anything about that anger? When you simplify these issues into "good guys" and "bad guys" it's easy to wash our hands of the responsibility to really reflect on how we participate in a racist system. We won't look at the little things we can do to challenge racism because we can just say "look it's the fault of those awful racists." Still, the film does highlight well just how corrupt the system is and since the film is set only in the very recent past we do have to accept this is the way the system is not was.

Destin Daniel Cretton holds our hand all the way through. It is a capital punishment 101 lesson. And in that it is effective. I think for folks who perhaps haven't spent much time thinking about the way the justice system is a tool of racial oppression especially through the tool of capital punishment, Just Mercy could be a truly awakening story. It would be impossible to see this film and not feel outraged. I think for the uninitiated Just Mercy is a necessary film to see but I think as a film it is on the simpler side.

Characters narrate their feelings and the injustices around them. It's the kind of script that tells us instead of shows us. As I mentioned people are either good or bad here. It makes it easy for the audience to pick a side. I get it. The film wants us to sympathize. But by making things so black and white it absolves the audience of our participation in the problem. We get to side with the good guys instead of thinking about how we might be contributing to a system which results in the incarceration and state murder of men like McMillan. For me the film in its starkness fails to be something more profound and powerful.

But the film does find little ways every now and then of breaking through that. There is a running joke about the Mockingbird museum which is clever and quite insightful. And despite most performances in the film being rather one note Jordan himself has some strong scenes, including one where he is pulled over by a cop which gets the heart racing mostly because of his performance. Also the film does a great job in its one execution scene of showing just how brutal and horrific a thing it is. So the film, while often on the simpler side, does find moments that transcend that.

So for me Just Mercy is a bit disappointing, a bit of a missed opportunity. It's not bad, I guess I just wanted it to get into the more complicated aspects of the story as I think it would both make the movie more interesting and the point it is trying to make more convincing. It is one thing to say innocent men persecuted for their race should not be executed for crimes they did not commit. But then we are left with the conclusion that guilty bad men should be killed. Perhaps there is even more we could learn from the legacy of Mr. McMillan and Mr. Stevenson if we weren't just looking to lionize them. Not that they don't deserve to be celebrated. They have earned that. But perhaps Just Mercy could have given us something more.

Just Mercy
Starring: Michael B Jordon, Jamie Foxx, Brie Larson, Rob Morgan, Tim Blake Nelson, Rafe Spall, O'Shea Jackson Jr.
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Writers: Andrew Lanham, Destin Daniel Cretton