2020 has been a hell of a year. I mean, literally hellacious. Quite simply, if it's not one thing, it's another. One of the year's most pressing topics is mass incarceration, more specifically the wrongful conviction and jailing of Black men. Before this year, I must've lived in a bubble; that is the only explanation for why I was so unaware of the shocking statistics behind these realities. For instance, I did not know that "African-American prisoners who were convicted of murder are about 50 percent more likely to be innocent than other convicted murderers and spend longer in prison before exoneration". Nor was I aware that one out of every fifteen Black men in Oklahoma (the entire state of Oklahoma)...is in jail...right now. And I couldn't believe that one in three Black men could expect to be jailed at some point in their lifetime. The criminal justice system in America is one that is heavily flawed and riddled with gross error and wild mismanagement. And, as of late, no narrative feature film has displayed that more clearly than Just Mercy.

Fresh out of Harvard, Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) leaves home and a slew of glamorous job offers behind to forge a new path for himself: fighting for the wrongly convicted and financially disadvantaged in Alabama during the 1980s. He immediately comes across Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), an inmate sentenced to die in the coming years for a murder he was convicted of, but claims to have never committed. While Stevenson fights to clear McMillian's name, he battles racism, the law and its powerful enforcers in this true story.

Point blank: This was a raw and eye-opening story. It was wonderfully accurate and well-constructed, but fell flat from a few "movie" standpoints. I'm neutral on Just Mercy - didn't hate it, didn't love it. This time, because the movie really does depict a must-see story, I want to end on a good note, so here's two reasons not to watch it and two reasons to watch it.

Here's two reasons not to watch Just Mercy:

1. Bland Acting

Gonna channel my best Kanye impression right now. *Ahem*. "I like some of the Michael B. Jordan movies. What the f*** does he know about great acting?!" As brief as I can be, you can say there's two types of big-time actors. There's (A) blockbuster movie stars whose faces and names we know and love, yet are virtually the same person over and over (i.e. Denzel, Will Smith, Emma Stone). Then, there's (B) transformative actors who occasionally get to stand in the spotlight (i.e. Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton, Tom Hardy). Okay, in my opinion, Michael B. Jordan wants to be type A (blockbuster movie star), but has nowhere near the acting chops of type A or B to get to where he wants to be. In the majority of his roles (aside from Fruitvale Station and Chronicle), he's pouty, he's semi-brooding, he goes against the grain, he rants with little emotion, but every so often...his voice will crack. Maybe he'll shed a tear. But, overall, I have not been impressed by him. I think he does a fine, passable job at being a lead, but I could easily name 50 actors above him in terms of acting ability. I like him, though, he seems like a cool guy.

In my opinion, Jamie Foxx is one of the two most talented individuals of my generation. Actor, singer, stand-up comedian, piano player, producer, impressionist, etc. He does it all. But, in his role as Walter McMillian, he doesn't get many chances to shine. He's playing someone else, so he's protraying that person and who they are, but he's mostly suppressed. Not quite charismatic, minus one or two chuckles. Foxx has chops to be a type B actor and is mostly a type A actor, but this role doesn't give him an opportunity to truly lean into the transformative concept of the role he's playing. Playing this role likely gave Jamie Foxx, the man, a chance to learn a thing or two. It doesn't do Jamie Foxx, the actor, much justice.

Penultimately, Brie Larson is barely in the movie and she mostly does that thing where she pierces souls with her eyes and talks real stern-like.

Lastly, the best acting came from Rob Morgan who plays the role of Herbert Richardson, a man also wrongly convicted of a murder, who we watch fight for his life on death row. Rob Morgan, unlike Jordan and Foxx, had little to inspire him. He had a couple of photos of Herbert Richardson, excerpts from Stevenson's book and his own mind. He channelled his grandfather, his experience as a Black man in America, past roles and his training from the American Theatre of Harlem to present us with the image of a war veteran, suffering from severe PTSD and a speech impediment, who ultimately has his day in the film. His impact, his words, his emotions - everything he did and the story he led came across as the more intriguing one. I had questions that went unanswered and wanted more from his side. He even led the most striking scene in the film, which definitely invited some discomfort. I was surprised at how great of a job he did, which made me more disappointed in the jobs done by the "main" actors.

There's not much in the way of impressive acting here.

2. Shallowness Encased in Drama

While the crew that created this work put effort into creating drama, the movie goes over as more of a clear-cut question of "right or wrong" than it does a whirlwind of tension and suspense. I learned little of Stevenson's true inspiration to fight these fights (maybe a childhood event?). I saw little passion from the main characters (as far as emotiona, which maybe isn't Jordan's strong suit or Stevenson's character, but always makes for a better movie). I didn't even get a courtroom scene where someone yells at the top of their lungs!

The script itself is ripe for cliché, yet quick monologues and doesn't do enough to demonstrate the most tact or mastery in the worlds of spoken word or narrative art. This movie was a great opportunity for that, but it was more focused on fact-stating than narrative storytelling. While that's fine for a biopic-type film with an engaging story, it still stands as a missed opportunity in my book.

Here's two reasons to watch Just Mercy:

1. Yet Another Unbelievable Story

The creators of this film were diligent in their presentation of the facts. In my opinion, they relied on them to provide much of the drama in this film (to little avail), but that doesn't mean it was a wasted effort. The story itself is quite dramatic and unbelievable. Seriously - imagine being both accused and convicted of a heinous crime that occurred in a place (at a time) where you never were...and being sentenced to death for it! Happened. Happens, if we're being honest, but that's the next point of mine. McMillian had several, damn near hella witnesses who were family and friends that said he was nowhere near the scene of the crime. They said old boy was at a fish fry, gettin' down. But they all went ignored during the brief day-and-a-half murder trial, where a jury of all White citizens sealed his fate. McMillian was even sent to death row before his trial, just so he could "get a taste of what was coming". The town and legal system worked so diligently against this man that in order for Stevenson to get anywhere, he had to arrange for a literal "60 Minutes" interview to get nationwide attention that spurred some sort of support for McMillian's justice. I'm sure it helped Stevenson was a bit anomalous himself, as a Black graduate of Harvard, but we are certainly presented a case that extends past morality and creeps into such unbelievability that it became more and more believable that we, as viewers and citizens, needed a...

2. Relevant Exposé of the Criminal Justice System

Starting from the beginning of the film all the way to the end, I saw scenes that were theatrical but made me flashback to the horrific scenes I've seen my entire life, but especially this year. The scene where McMillian (Foxx) is excessively ripped from his car after posing no threat and complying or Stevenson (Jordan) is unjustly accosted by racist police or the sheer exasperation in the face of Richardson (Morgan) that reflects years of struggle - they all work to highlight the wrongdoing done by the "righteous" defenders of law and order. Officers and jails aren't alone; of course, those working to prosecute and defend the accused are failing as well. If this one story itself isn't unbelievable enough for you, consider this: towards the end of the film, Just Mercy educates us on the egregious mistakes of prosecutions, specifically for death row inmates. It's stated simply: “For every nine people who have been executed in the U.S., one person on death row has been exonerated and released, a shocking rate of error.” Over 10% of people incarcerated and on death row should be free, yet face imminent death in America. No matter what your feelings are on the death penalty itself (which a certain scene and this movie certainly make you think about), you would have to be quite obstinate to not admit that that rate of error is unacceptable. We're in a rethinking stage right now in America. This film pushes the envelope on highlighting where we need to focus our efforts in terms of societal reconstruction.

Despite some cinematic weaknesses, the story hits hard and serves its purpose well in teaching a history lesson and exposing racism/error in American justice. I recommend seeing Just Mercy. Some won't. Either way, I Scene That.