Iron Man defends Tom Hagen against the villainous Bad Santa in The Judge, my review now. The Judge tells the story of Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.), a very successful lawyer who works in Chicago. But when his mother passes away he goes back to his Indiana roots where he meets his two brothers (Vincent DOnofrio and Jeremy Strong) and his enstranged father (Robert Duvall) who is the judge of the town. But when he is suspected of murder, Hank will defend his father against Dwight Dickham (Billy Bob Thornton) despite his feelings toward his father. The Judge benefits most from an excellent leading performance by Robert Downey Jr. and great supporting work by the great Robert Duvall. While The Judge is beautifully filmed, the film overall lacks some needed substance. Robert Downey Jr. finally plays a role outside of Iron Man and this man is an actor. This is the best I’ve seen him (outside Iron Man) since his Oscar nominated performance in Tropic Thunder. He owns the screen and carries the movie through a near two and a half hour runtime. His character does resemble Iron Man (something I’ve noticed) but he has a very challenging role and nails every second of it. He is one of the best actors working today not to have won an Oscar. The great Robert Duvall gives a very impressive performance in this film. This is the best I’ve seen him in years, he proves to us why he is one of the best actors of all time. Playing a mostly unlikable character, he comes off as a nasty cuss but that only makes me even more fascinated to watch on screen. The best scenes without a doubt were the scenes where they went at it. Downey Jr. and Duvall had excellent chemistry on screen and it got VERY intense in the arguments they had. Both showing off the best they could pull off, it seemed natural for them. I just wish the rest of the film lived up to these scenes, they’re aren’t many at all but when they did happen it was the highlight of the film. In supporting work Vincent DOnofrio and Jeremy Strong play Hank’s older and younger brothers. They were very solid. I believed their performances (particularly of Donofrio). Supporting work is just as important as leading, while I think they get put down by the two main leads they were strong enough to make an impression. This movies acting is without a doubt the highlight and the actors carry it most of the way. This film is beautifully filmed as well. The frame shots and they way the picture looked was fantastic. Leading the cinematography is Janusz Kamiński creates a very moody and dark pictures were the colors are saturated. This added a more grey looking picture at the main point which added on greatly. The courtroom sequences were the most disappointing aspect of the film. They lacked a lot of needed energy. Now I’m not saying it had to be over the top Liar Liar or anything but there wasn’t a moment where I felt a slip of suspense or worried about Duvall’s character. I they do a very good job at filming these scenes but looking at scenes like Lincoln where I know the outcome and yet are on the edge of my seat the entire film does prove a small problem. Billy Bob Thornton was great in the scenes but I wanted to see more of him which we didn’t get. This also goes on way too long. This is a two hour and twenty minute film and holy crap it shows. Easily twenty minutes could have been cut out of the movie and also cutting out this certain character, Vera Farmiga playing Samantha, an old love interest of Hank’s character. She didn’t really move the plot any farther and really just dragged the movie on longer than it needed to be. If they had cut her out of the entire film it wouldn’t have been any different and put more focus on the main subject. The main message his family in the movie. I liked it but it got to a point of it so was sentimental. Unbelievably sentimental to the point where it was kind of corny. Some of it really did work a lot to the films benefit giving more emotion but it crossed the line a few times to where it was “Yes, this is a movie and we are going to make you cry by making it as dramatic as possible”. It didnt feel that natural but the performances did keep it as grounded as it possibly could. So The Judge is OK, without a doubt the acting carries the movie along, Downey jr. proves he can act outside of Iron Man and it’s great to see Duvall working again. This is not a perfect movie, I am slightly disappointed by the outcome of it: I give The Judge a C+.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 21:15:32 +0000
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