Michael B. Jordan stars as civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, a real-life attorney who has dedicated his life to freeing wrongly convicted death row inmates. Destin Daniel Cretton’s film focuses primarily on the case of Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), a man sentenced to death for the murder of a girl, even though evidence showed him with friends and family at the time of the killing. What happened to McMillian is depicted competently in the movie, as are some other cases and Stevenson’s struggles to bring injustices into the light. Jordan and Foxx are very good, as are a supporting cast of Brie Larson, Tim Blake Nelson and O’Shea Jackson, Jr. The film is well done, but perhaps a little too routine for stretches. Still, it’s a showcase for fine acting, especially by Jordan and Foxx. It’ll also get you thinking on the downfalls of the death penalty, and the kinds of horrors men like McMillian went through.
Just Mercy
