In Review: The Judge

In Review: The Judge

I smell an Oscar nomination!! And it's not even Christmas yet!

The Story

Robert Duvall is going to jail! Haha well, his character might be. Duvall plays the always-fair-always-truthful judge of a small town in Indiana. Robert Downey Jr. is his distant son Hank who has run off to Chicago to live his dream of becoming a well-paid lawyer (notice how I said well-paid and not well-liked or righteous or moral). The two have been fighting for years. The only reason Hank comes to visit his father, Joseph (who he refers to as "Judge"), is because Hank's mother has died. While Hank is in town, Joseph is accused of murder. Hank manages to push aside his pride to act as his father's lawyer. The case will test Hank's patience with his father as well as his comfortable distance he has with his past.

The Stars

I do think Robert Downey Jr. should at least be nominated for Best Actor this year. I know it is really early in the Oscar season, but this one needs to be on the Academy's mind. The world knows Robert Downey Jr. as the child star turned junkie turned self-centered sarcastic superhero, but they don't know him like this. He is so vulnerable and honest at moments in the film that you think, "This is Iran Man?" We see his heart, which tends to get fogged over by the sarcasm and one-liners of his other films.

Duvall is, of course, brilliant as well. What I love most about this movie is that we all would love to see Duvall's character completely accept his son into his life with open arms and beg for forgiveness for everything that has happened in the past. But that never fully happens. Duvall never breaks character. A real father who has alienated his son for years would never open up to him fully and ask for forgiveness. We want him to in this fantasy world, but he never would in real life. Because he doesn't know how.

The Message

I want to say that this movie tells all parents to learn to forgive their children for their pasts and ask for forgiveness for the wrongs they have done. But that's not what this is about. After all, this is Hank's story. Not Joseph's. Hank's whole life he is fighting his past- he gets a job far away from home, running away from an old girlfriend who could have been more, running away from a brother with disabilities, another brother whose life he ruined, and a whole other list of passed mistakes. This movie is really about him forgiving himself and faces his mistakes, accepting that they happened and learning to move forward. This is the only way he learns to forgive his father and how he finds the strength to fight for him.

Overall

The only issue I had with this movie is the middle was a little slow to start. There is a long period of time before we get the trial started- we have to pick the jury, find the right lawyer, prepare, prepare, prepare. In real life, that is entirely accurate. Preparation is how you win a case. But for a movie, there is not too much drama. Thankfully a lot of this down time is used to fill the viewer in on the ghosts of the past. Overall, except a family drama with some court scenes. It's not your average court room drama. It's more about the family's development, and more specifically Hank's development.

3 out of 4 Gavels (the judge hammer thing)