As busy I get from time to time, I find that I can't see every movie under the sun, leaving my friends and colleagues to fill in the blanks for me.  As poetically as I think I wax about movies on this website as a wannabe critic, there are other experts out there.  Sometimes, it inspires me to see the movie too and get back to being my circle's go-to movie guy.  Sometimes, they save me $9 and you 800+ words of blathering.  In a new review series, I'm opening my site to friend submissions for guest movie reviews.

TODAY’S CRITIC: Lafronda Stumn

Lafronda Stumn is a student at Madisonville Community College and intends to graduate with an Associate's degree in Associate of the Arts. She plans on earning a Bachelors Degree in Motion Picture Studies and English at Wright State University. Her favorite Directors are Scorsese, Spielberg, and Spike Lee, and her favorite actors are Al Pacino, Denzel Washington, Meryl Streep, and Halle Berry. Lafronda contacted this page looking for a place to get published and I enjoy giving people that very kind of opportunity. This is her fourth guest review for Every Movie Has a Lesson. Welcome back, Lafronda!

HER REVIEW:

America is going through challenging times at the moment. With the police shooting of George Floyd and Jacob Blake. Criminal justice reform has been a hot topic that needs to stay alert by News media, Social media, grassroots, etc. The movie Just Mercy is about death row and many a black accused of crimes that they didn't commit. The justice system has failed theses men by corrupt police system and crooked lawyers and judges where racism is prominent in their verdict of guilty.

Brian Henry Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) is a civil rights attorney who has dedicated his life to defending black men to escape the death penalty and be free by a legal system rotten to the core.

Stevenson meets with Walter McMillian (Jamie Foxx), who is on death row to murder an 18 girl in broad daylight. McMillian is very doubtful that Stevenson can help him and walk away from it. Stevenson is stubborn and visits Johnny D's (his Nickname), extended family. The atmosphere with love and hope that D's wife, children, and Mother can help him in this very dire situation.

Additionally, Johnny D heard about Stevenson and now does believe that he can help him. Brie Larson plays Eva Ansley, and They team up to form the Equal Justice Initiative and investigate not only Johnny D's case but also several other prisoners. A man named Darnell Houston, the family friend, agrees to testify, then recants his story when the D.A. Tommy Chapman arrests Houston.

Stevenson then meets the witness who claimed that he “saw” McMillan at the crime scene, Ralph Meyers (Tim Blake Nelson). Meyers is hesitant to testify because if he recants his earlier testimony,  they will convict him for perjury. Meyers is also is in life in prison for and crime not relevant to the McMillian case.

Many significant senses include when Eva Ansley receives a phone call from home receives a death threat at her house. Stevenson is at Ansley's home when she tells him the horrible news.

Another death row inmate Herbert Lee Richard. A man who is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress disorder. The jury sentenced him to death. Richard,  convicted of accused of murdering a woman, despite the fact he had a mental illness.

Furthermore, another disturbing scene is when Stevenson is stopped by police at night and is held at gunpoint, using fear and threats. The law could care less that Stevenson is an attorney.

Likewise, Richard is calmed down on death row by Johnny D through is soothing words of emotion, as Richard execution approaches. There is a hearing for a new trial with overwhelming evidence of Johnny D could get a reprieve by the judge. 

Jamie Foxx gives one of his best performances of his career as McMillan and man who made a mistake that led to a corrupt police and justice system who desperately wants to suppress and punish so many black men for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. There is a level of authenticity that rings true with Foxx and B. Jordan's performances.

On the other hand, the film directed by Destin Daniel Cretton is handled in a standard by the book. The screen doesn't dazzle you with visual images that could've been helped by a better. Overall, the film does an excellent job of how we need the justice system to consistently abusing more heroes like Brian Stevenson to serve justice for so many black and brown people.

Rating: ***1/2 out of four

CONCLUSION

Thank you again, Lafronda! You are welcome anytime. Friends, if you see a movie that I don't see and want to be featured on my website, hit up my website's Facebook page and you can be my next GUEST CRITIC!