Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017)

Roman J. Israel, Esq. is the kind of adult drama Hollywood doesn’t make often enough: a moral thriller where the biggest suspense comes from watching a principled man collide with a system built to grind principles down. Denzel Washington gives one of his most quietly daring performances, turning Roman into a bundle of intellect, awkwardness, and aching idealism you can’t look away from, while Colin Farrell and Carmen Ejogo add just the right notes of charm and conscience around him. Dan Gilroy shoots Los Angeles with a restless, lived-in tension, letting the film hum with urgency even when it’s simply talking about law, power, and compromise. It’s not a tidy crowd-pleaser and it can feel deliberately abrasive, but if you’re in the mood for a character study that asks hard questions and means them, this one sticks with you.

Roman J. Israel, Esq. is clearly aiming for a morally thorny character study about an idealist lawyer getting chewed up by a justice system built on compromise, and Denzel Washington commits hard enough to make you want it to work. The problem is Dan Gilroy’s script often feels like it’s pushing pieces into place rather than letting choices grow naturally, so the big turns can come off heavy-handed, a bit illogical, and less suspenseful than the “crime thriller” label suggests. It’s also deliberately talky and unevenly paced, with long stretches of legal and ethical debate that may feel like wheel-spinning if you’re expecting a tight, propulsive courtroom ride. If you’re in the mood for a thoughtful, performance-driven drama with a messy protagonist, there’s value here; if you want sharp plotting and clean payoff, this may test your patience.