Roman J. Israel, Esq

At the outset, Gilroy makes Roman J. Israel a most appealing character. His joy is doing what he loves being left alone. He is happy to work behind the scenes for his legal hero, Mr. Jackson, still taking on cases to defend the poor and oppressed against a legal system rigged against them. Roman doesn’t care about, nor need money, as long as he can pursue justice. He still has an old flip phone, uses pay phones and feels no need for email or text messages.

Money becomes important when Mr. Jackson dies and his family is forced to close down and transfer the business to another firm owned by George Pierce (Colin Farrell). Pierce once had the same ideals, but sold out to become the head of a boutique, high priced law firm. You think Pierce is going to be a bad guy and ruin Roman, but Farrell makes him a more sympathetic character as he realizes Roman’s skills knowing the law.

Gilroy never shares Roman’s complete backstory, but he’s never far from his earphones and iPod. He may need his playlist to combat the ringing in his ears since he mentions having tinnitus. But Roman probably also falls somewhere on the autism spectrum since he appears to be a legal savant, able to recite every legal statute by case and number, while also lacking essential social skills.

See our interview with Writer/Director Dan Gilroy talking about Nightcrawler vs. Roman Israel, Esq., not giving characters backstory, Denzel Washington on the set and how the film was shot.

Those social skills are put to the test when Roman encounters a beautiful, smart, social activist Maya, (British actress, Carmen Ejogo). It was heartbreaking to see Roman’s beliefs and ideals torn apart when Maya invites him to speak at a meeting of young volunteers. He’s put down there as an anachronism just as he’s relegated to insignificance at Pierce’s law firm until they realize how well he knows the law.

Cinematographer Robert Elswit (Nightcrawler, There Will Be Blood) makes this very wordy movie visually exciting allowing the camera to rotate around Roman as he works through his mental process. There are also some interesting flares of color and light around Roman as he walks the dark, grungy streets of downtown Los Angeles.

Music of the 60’s and 70’s is integral to Roman’s character since he’s always wearing headphones. In addition, James Newton Howard composed original music that bridges the span of the 4 decades covered in the film.The change in Roman’s attire after being told to get better clothes is dramatic. But it doesn’t change the man.

George’s transformation may be a hopeful sign for the legal system, but shifting the point of view diminished the power of Roman’s story.  Farrell’s character becomes more important as the film unfolds. It’s both a strength and weakness of Gilroy’s script because the focus becomes muddled in the last half hour of the movie.

The central conflict Roman faces comes when he turns his back on his core beliefs at just the moment when it appears he’s on the verge of gaining acceptance from Maya and George. This role reversal turns the hero into a villain and the movie’s former villain transforms into hero. It feels more than a bit contrived. But despite those shortcomings Denzel Washington shows again why he continues to amaze. He still has the ability to be a movie star who can lose himself in his characters.

After the film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, 12 minutes was edited out to improve pacing and a scene with Colin Farrell was moved earlier in the film. Despite the great performances by Colin Farrell and Carmen Ejogo, this is Denzel Washington’s film all the way. Farrell says he “is a powerful force on film” and seeing him work up close was a gift. Unfortunately, the end of the film takes a turn and, because of Roman’s actions, becomes predictable. The way it is shot is unsatisfying and disappointing. The movie is intriguing because of Washington but does not live up to the caliber of his performance.