Movie · 2017 · Drama, Crime, Thriller · 2h 2m · PG-13 · English
Curator score: 2.4/10 (88.7K ratings)
All rise.
Overview
Hard-nosed liberal lawyer Roman J. Israel has been fighting the good fight forever while others take the credit. When his partner – the firm's frontman – has a heart attack, Israel suddenly takes on that role. He soon discovers some unsettling truths about the firm – truths that conflict with his values of helping the poor and dispossessed – and finds himself in an existential crisis that leads to extreme actions.
Ratings
Curator score: 2.4/10
IMDb: 6.5/10
Letterboxd: 3.14/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 55%
Metacritic: 58
TMDB: 6.3/10
Director
Dan Gilroy
Production
Culture China - Image Nation Abu Dhabi Fund, Cross Creek Pictures, Bron Studios, Escape Artists, Image Nation Abu Dhabi, MACRO
Cast
Denzel Washington, Colin Farrell, Carmen Ejogo, Lynda Gravatt, Amanda Warren, Hugo Armstrong, Sam Gilroy, Tony Plana, DeRon Horton, Amari Cheatom, Vince Cefalu, Tarina Pouncy, Nazneen Contractor, Niles Fitch, Jocelyn Ayanna, Eli Bildner, Robert Prescott, Sedale Threatt Jr., Elisa Perry, Andrew Tinpo Lee
Curator Review
Verdict
A flawed but distinctive legal drama anchored by a deeply committed Denzel Washington performance. It’s more interesting as a character study of conscience, isolation, and obsolescence than as a tightly plotted thriller, and the execution is uneven even when the ideas are strong.
Best for
viewers who prioritize performance over plot
legal dramas with moral ambiguity
slow-burn character studies
stories about activism, ethics, and institutional compromise
Skip if
you want a cleanly engineered thriller
you’re impatient with eccentric, mannered protagonists
you need a brisk or conventional courtroom drama
you dislike films that feel more intriguing than fully satisfying
Overview
Roman J. Israel, Esq. is the kind of movie that can feel both overcooked and underexplained at the same time. Dan Gilroy builds a world of legal compromise, activist idealism, and bureaucratic drift, but the film is less interested in procedural mechanics than in the uneasy interior life of its title character.
Worth noting
That focus gives the film its best asset: Denzel Washington, who turns Roman into a prickly, brilliant, deeply specific presence. The performance is funny, sad, and a little alienating, and it carries the movie through stretches where the plotting feels blunt or uncertain.
Bottom line
What lingers is the film’s sense of a man out of step with his era, trying to keep faith with principles that the world around him has already priced out. It’s not a fully polished film, but it is a memorable one, especially if you respond to morally tangled dramas with a strong central performance.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Allison M. 🌱 (4★) · 388 likes
When I walked out of the movie theater, there was this guy who was trying to figure out whether he liked it or not. I wanted so badly to say, "If you think you liked it, then you did."
The way this movie handled difficult issues and shades of gray reminded me of the James Vanderbilt film, Truth (2015). Nobody in Hollywood likes to tackle difficult subjects head-on. It's easier to follow a formula than to create multi-dimensional characters that… more
Nakul (3★) · 279 likes
Roman J. Israel, Esq was a strange movie. The execution & plotting could have been better and the story could have gone in multiple better directions but i was totally engrossed in the film the whole way through thanks to Denzel Washington's performance, this is a perfect example of slightly-above-average movie elevated by goddamned brilliant performance.
matt lynch (3.5★) · 264 likes
Despite both this and NIGHTCRAWLER employing some pretty well-worn ideas to say not much that's particularly fresh, Gilroy's certainly making some idiosyncratic stylistic and narrative moves here. This is like his own version of his brother's MICHAEL CLAYTON but without the self-satisfied portent, and it's as full of tics as Denzel's performance (which is great, maybe the best thing he's done since Demme's MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE). I like that this reverses the boilerplate "crisis of conscience" throughline, having a guy realize… more Despite both this and NIGHTCRAWLER employing some pretty well-worn ideas to say not much that's particularly fresh, Gilroy's certainly making some idiosyncratic stylistic and narrative moves here. This is like his own version of his brother's MICHAEL CLAYTON but without the self-satisfied portent, and it's as full of tics as Denzel's performance (which is great, maybe the best thing he's done since Demme's MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE). I like that this reverses the boilerplate "crisis of conscience" throughline, having a guy realize… more
Griffin Newman · 229 likes
I think that with time and distance this will be seen as a cornerstone Denzel performance.
Josh Lewis (3★) · 195 likes
Like so much of what this wants to be about, but holy shit is it so utterly baffling in execution.
1993 · Drama, Mystery, Thriller · 2h 34m · R · Curator 4.3/10 (284.1K ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, MGM Plus
A glossy but effective legal thriller about professional seduction, corruption, and the danger of getting in too deep.