<em>Roman J. Israel, Esq.</em> Wastes a Denzel Washington Performance
Dan Gilroy’s legal drama tries to tackle the American justice system, the death of activism, and a pulpy crime story all at once.
The hero of looks like he emerged out of a time tunnel straight from 1979. He wears baggy three-piece suits, sports an afro, and never goes anywhere without his Walkman or its fuzzy orange headphones. A lawyer and an activist, Roman is a man who’s frozen in the past, the personification of a guilty conscience for a more corporate, less moral world. He’s also the star of Dan Gilroy’s new drama, which tries to reckon with how the American justice system has failed the idealism of generations gone by. Except, that is, when the film decides to
