Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Starring Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo, Amari Cheatom

Directed by Dan Gilroy

The Story:
Roman J. Israel, Esq. (Denzel Washington) is a partner in a law firm in Los Angles that focuses on taking care of underprivileged people.  His partner is the one who does the work out front, while Roman does the gruntwork, mostly due to his possible Asperger's that makes him wholly unreliable to talk to people.  When his partner suffers a heart attack, the company is dissolved by George Pierce (Colin Farrell), and Roman begins working for him.

He meets activist Maya Alston (Carmen Ejogo), and suffers a heavy loss when an event he began ends in the death of another person.  He then uses information gained by that person to have another man arrested, and illegally claims the reward money.  Now living the high life, Roman struggles with his decision and how he feels like a hypocrite.  Meanwhile, the man he had jailed seeks revenge.

The Synopsis:
In a time of Oscar-bait films, on paper, it seems that "Roman J. Israel, Esq." is gunning for that coveted title.  It's got strong pedigree in Denzel Washington (who was a strong contender in last year's "Fences"), and the story is a topical one involving civil rights and internal struggles.  Yet, the results of the film is a jumbled mess that doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and wastes Washington's time-honored talent in a muddied script filled with legal jargon leading to a shocking finale that comes out of left field and leaves you wondering, "what the heck just happened?"

Or maybe it's because I almost fell asleep.  A couple times.  It's not helpful that the trailer never drew me in, and I dreaded seeing this film purely based off that, so maybe I had an unfair bias coming into it.  Still, the script seemed to be all over the place.  I thought the film took place in the 60s due to Washington's appearance in the trailer, but it actually takes place in the here and now.  Either way, it was excruciating to sit through.

Washington doesn't get a lot to work with, as his character is never fully actualized.  We all know his name because he repeatedly tells people it, including the "esquire" at the end, and maybe the film would've been more entertaining if you made that into a drinking game, because you'd be drunk by the midway point.  We're led to believe Roman has some sort of Asperger's, although it's never really stated - or maybe he has some sort of savant talent, as is mentioned in the film.  Either way, he knows a lot of stuff off the top of his head, he's terrible in social settings, and walks with an undeserving air of superiority that's unmerited, because he's completely inept at his job.

When an opportunity arises for him to make $100,000 by turning in a criminal, he takes the money and changes his whole outlook, but even that is short lived.  Of course, the man he turned in comes after him, and he struggles with being the great guy that people like Maya thinks he is and the unethical choices he makes.  Unfortunately, that all happens around the last half hour of this two-hour bloated mess, and is extremely rushed.  Director Dan Gilroy re-edited the film after the Toronto International Film Festival, removing thirteen minutes and moving events around, so maybe that has something to do with it.  We'll never know because, much like "Batman v. Superman," I have no intentions of ever seeing any sort of iteration of this film again.

The Summary:
Despite Denzel Washington's presence, "Roman J. Israel, Esq." fails to deliver any sort of semblance of a decent film.  While it wasn't downright abysmal, it was substandard, and one easily forgotten.

The Score: C-