Roman J. Israel, Esq.

Fiercely intelligent and deeply suspenseful, Roman J. Israel, Esq. is an absorbing morality tale from writer/director Dan Gilroy, and boasts one of Denzel Washington’s finest performances.

Washington digs so deep under the skin of this complex character that we almost breath with him. It's a great, award-caliber performance in a movie that can barely contain it.

A courtroom drama with a twist, this second feature from "Nightcrawler" writer/director Dan Gilroy features one of the best performances of Washington’s career.

A worthy but wordy look at the inequities of the US legal system, saved by a handful of terrific scenes and a tour-de-force turn from Washington.

Rather than developing Roman’s conundrum, Roman J. Israel, Esq. settles for a prosaic character study laid out in painfully obvious terms, with a tacked-on twist in the third act just so that the story can find some way to end.

One element is consistent throughout Roman J. Israel, Esq.—the enigmatic lead, played with typical dedication and forcefulness by Denzel Washington. But even though he’s fully committed to the role, this movie is anything but, aimlessly weaving between story ideas like a distracted driver.

But don’t be fooled! This is not Oscar bait at all. Roman J. Israel, Esq. is the kind of horrendous hot mess an actor makes directly after he wins the Oscar.

An ethical thriller featuring a commanding performance by Denzel Washington. Great music and a tone that keeps you guessing. I've seen it twice and enjoyed the moral dilemmas, Denzel's quick witticisms, and vital critiques of the criminal justice system.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This movie is more than anything, a character movie, you keep watching because you want to see his journey and what he is up to, and that is thanks to Denzel work and writing for Dan Gilroy. The story have some quotes that really intrigues you and make you think, some choices that Roman does. Always with correct attitudes, being the example for a person and trying to help everyone out, trying to make justice and believing, but it shows you what a moment of difficulties can do, making you break into something that you are not, and because of that "easy path", are consequences to deal with. The problem here is the rhythm, sometimes i get bored and disinterested for the situation, plus some sequences are confusing, the slow sequences doesn't work all the time, but for other hand, i was tense in some sequences. The music here is very well chosed, it serves as a narrative factor, talks to what's happening. Overwall is a really slow and interesting movie to watch, it can teach you some good stuff.

It wasn't so bad, but the script, well I must say the film in general is never up to Denzel Washington's work And it also wastes Colin Farrell, so yeah, it's kind of a letdown.

Washington is great but the movie does so little to keep you interested and often feels very full of itself with how pretentious it can be. I definitely wanted to like it a lot more than I did. The potential was there but the story just didn't cut it, especially with how slow it was. This could have benefitted from a shorter runtime.