Monroeville, Alabama, 1987: A man is condemned to death for a crime he did not commit. Do you need to know the color of his skin, or can you already guess? He is Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), and recent Harvard law graduate Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) has come to his defense. But, if the movie’s poster and Stevenson’s legacy of freeing the innocent and representing the underserved exist anywhere in your mind, then you know going in that the true story Just Mercy draws from is a hopeful one, albeit slightly bloated in its design. Foxx is a highlight, a man who knows the cards were stacked against him from the deal, and director Destin Daniel Cretton handles courtroom scenes well but resorts to bland visuals elsewhere—except for scenes set in prison, particularly one night on death row. It is both somber and understated and gives humanity and decency to a soul who has to die in a most inhumane way.

Just Mercy (2019)
Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton
Written by Destin Daniel Cretton, Andrew Lanham
Based on the book by Bryan Stevenson
Produced by Asher Goldstein, Michael B. Jordan, Gil Netter
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Michael B. Jordan, Brie Larson, O’Shea Jackson Jr.
Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Running time 137 minutes, Premiered Sept. 6, 2019 at the Toronto International Film Festival

---

---

The above blurb first appeared in the pages of Boulder Weekly Vol. 27, No. 21, “Just Mercy.”