Yes No Maybe So: "Just Mercy"
Thursday, September 5, 2019 at 11:00AM by Ben Miller
Festival season is in full swing and there are just a few complete unknowns left in the game. One of those, which could turn out to be a big awards player, is Dustin Daniel Cretton’s Just Mercy starring Michael B. Jordan and Oscar-winners Brie Larson and Jamie Foxx. Let’s dive in with a Yes, No, Maybe So after the jump...
YES
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Cretton is an automatic yes. Short Term 12 was one of the best films I have ever seen and on the strength of that alone, I am IN
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Jordan is the closest thing we have to a new “MOVIE STAR” these days and it’s nice to see him get a true star vehicle without any brand to rely on (as he had with Creed and Black Panther)
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Larson shows up 40 seconds into the trailer, but before that, there are nothing but black faces. It’s refreshing to see people of color telling stories about people of color without focusing on the white people on the periphery
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Speaking of Larson, lost in all her Marvel mojo, she is one of the most talented actresses living and it will be nice to get her back in a drama.
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I kept waiting for the inevitable “things work different down here in the South, boy” racist cop, and the film might have that, but I was pleasantly surprised by the restraint from the trailer
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There's a surprising lack of cliché on view. You're waiting for obvious trailer story beats but keep getting shoved in slightly different directions. It’s a nice change of pace
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Jordan is doing a great job at selling the steady rock of his character. This looks to take place across several years and doesn’t focus solely on Jamie Foxx’s character.
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Outside of the big three, there is a talented group of supporting cast members: Rafe Spall, O’Shea Jackson Jr, Tim Blake Nelson and Rob Morgan (who was exceptional in Mudbound).
NO
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Personally, I hate “Based on a True Story” text. Why can’t you just let the story stand on its own without force feeding the audience the whole 'this-actually-happened' narrative?
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The material could get hokey. Plenty of places this could go wrong
MAYBE SO
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Prison/death-row dramas are all over the map. For every Dead Man Walking, you get two The Life of David Gales. For each True Crime, you get The Green Mile.
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Where has Jamie Foxx the actor been? Since Django Unchained in 2012, he has been all over the map film-wise, and not much of it has been good. I found him in electric in Baby Driver, but am still waiting for him to live up to that breakout year (Ray + Collateral)
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Jordan doesn’t look like he has much to work with from the trailer, but the story is the selling point over the performance. Foxx appears to have the showier role.
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“This is about all of us” – That sentiment can feel pandering. The trailer appears to waver between innocence and leniency, depending on the case. How will this play out in the overarching story?
The trailer feels like a Maybe So, but let's give Cretton and that incredible trio of central actors the benefit of the doubt. So it's a YES. Though it's easy to feel confident in the collective filmmaking ability here - what do you make of its Oscar chances? Warner Brothers is looking for a big awards push with a Christmas release and a premiere at Toronto this Thursday. We should know very soon.
Reader Comments (19)
Personally, I hate “Based on a True Story” text. Why can’t you just let the story stand on its own without force feeding the audience the whole 'this-actually-happened' narrative?
It forces the public to engage further than a take it or leave it movie.
Yes. As you said, I'm glad to see Michael B. Jordan carry a film that's not a franchise.
I had such a different reaction to the trailer. I was so excited to see this trailer. But I felt that Jordan and Larson looked so bland and unengaged based on the edit. It was hard to tell if Foxx has enough to do in the movie to warrant Oscar consideration. The reference to The Life of David Gale: that film was what came to my mind immediately after watching the trailer -- and we all know how well that turned out. Boy, I reallywant to be wrong about this movie.
Reminded me of A time to Kill but that song in the trailer ruins the mood.
I'm starting to wonder if Short Term 12 was a fluke.
Bryan Stevenson is an amazing person. The work he has done with the Equal Justice Initiative is almost miraculous. That said, this was a pretty paint-by-numbers legal story trailer. I hope the movie is less A Time to Kill and more Loving.
Well made, convetional films, can be very good (e.g., Spotlight). This looks a bit conventional, but has potential, and like you I'll watch because of the director.
Jordan has been on the cusp of getting Globe/SAG/Oscar heat for years (e.g., Creed, Fruitvale, Black Panther). This film seems designed to get him with a bait-y role, but I'm fine with that. Stevenson is a truly incredible person, and if he makes him into a compelling, and real, character, I think we'll be in for a treat.
"Spotlight" is far from conventional.
ben, i respectfully disagree. this trailer is painfully bad. not a cliche left unturned! the dialogue ("could have been me, mama"..."what you're doing is gonna make a lot of people upset") throughout is a series of groaners. short term 12 is indeed glorious, and maybe WB is cutting the trailer to make it look worse/more commercial than it is? surely doesn't appear to have much subtlety from what we're shown, though.
I agree with EricB. This trailer is full of clichés. And Michael B. Jordan looks asleep in it.
I'm going with a maybe as the "based on a true story" thing is an uh-oh for me.
In the battle of Black Panther legal dramas, it can't be worse than MARSHALL with Chadwick Boseman.
Based on this paint-by-numbers and overwrought trailer, this will be coming soon to a future episode of 'This Has Oscar Buzz'...
I meant This HAD Oscar Buzz, obviously.
Maybe the reactions out of TIFF will prove us wrong?
sure 'nuff looks hot down alabama - you sure you ain't wanna quit yo' shirt, mikey j?
I think this looks fantastic. Redemption for Jamie Foxx perhaps?
Courtroom dramas bore most people. I’ll pass.
People's choice at TIFF, laudable box office, a few basic year end tops tens and then Best Picture at next year's Oscars. There is no mercy.
I'm a yes, because of MBJ - I'll continue to see any half-decent looking movie where he's the lead - and also because I'm always interested in how movies depict an area where I have some actual expertise (in this case, the law.)