The Judge

I saw this film twice at TIFF and was quite impressed! It's getting some harsh reviews, undeservedly. Yes, it's too long and yes, director David Dobkin needs to work on his tone and pacing, but the story is great and the performances are fantastic!

Not a simple courtroom drama at all, the story is more about Hank Palmer (Downey)'s struggle to understand his relationship with his father and to accept where he came from. It's about identity, family, and all the messiness and contradictions of life.

If you are a teenager who can't sit still through a more-than-two-hours long movie, or expect some type of John Grisham or Iron Man-like action from this film, you will be disappointed. If you are a true film lover who revels in watching great actors practice their craft, you will not be disappointed by The Judge.

This movie is definitely worth sitting through for amazing performances by both Downey and Duvall, who could both be up for Oscar nominations for their roles as the son and father, respectively. There are many very funny moments as well as many touching moments between father and son, brother and brother. The audience I sat with at Roy Thomson Hall loved it, frequently expressing their appreciation with laughter. See for yourself on October 10--don't let a few critics spoil it for you.

It's not easy to judge or to make the right choice as one. And the past always will get to you, no matter what you do and what you try to forget about it. This family drama is a perfect example of that. Basing everything on two major actors, this is more than solid (gold). The story works and you're invested from the get go. Even if Robert Downeys character might not seem the friendliest or maybe because of that. Because he seems to be able to get away with things.

But we do get to see behind that curtain/wall, that his character has made up and his own denial. There is an almost weird love triangle, which might throw some people off, but it's just to make our main character more believable, to show what he became over the years. Every decision will result in some consequences, question is who is the one taking them.... A great drama and movie, highly recommended

Robert Duvall's performance as an irascible old man dying of cancer in the title role both got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor and is the highlight of the film. Duvall who is now 84 years old puts a lifetime of learning and experience into this role, a part he literally aged right into.

Robert Downey, Jr. plays Duvall's estranged son, a very successful Chicago criminal attorney who gets a call from his brother Vincent D'Onofrio that their mother has just passed on. Right in mid trial he gets a postponement and flies to the small Indiana town where he grew up to be with his brothers and dad.

While still in mourning a man is run down by a car identified as Duvall's and he's arrested. Turns out to be a man he gave a break to in his court who came back and pulled a horrible crime. He'll need a good lawyer, but Duvall won't make the obvious choice.

There's a whole lot issues separating Duvall and Downey making a gulf as wide as the Pacific Ocean. As he proudly points out Downey commands some big fees in Chicago. My favorite scene in the film is Duvall insisting that local attorney Dax Sheppard be his lawyer. Sheppard is a part time lawyer and a full time antique dealer who got his law degree at a school Valparaiso, Chile, good old Valpo as he calls it. Downey is beside himself at this guy's incompetence.

Grace Zabriskie has a short but memorable performance as the mother of the man who was killed. Years of rage and hate come out at Duvall. As Downey points out when you're a town judge like that for 35 years you will make rulings and have a lot of people you ruled against hate you. In fact as we meet Duvall there's a great example of that when he orders this redneck deadbeat to cough up child support by giving title to his brand new truck over to his esteemed wife so she can sell it. In that world that's like ordering castration. You will make enemies with decisions like that. It kind of makes you wonder about all those old Andy Hardy movies where Lewis Stone was beloved by all in Carvel.

Downey and Duvall have a special dynamic working in The Judge. Their last scene together is exponentially poignant.

A whole lot of family dirt is exposed when the rug is lifted in The Judge. For fans of both Downey and Duvall this is a must.

Based on the trailer, my anticipation for seeing "The Judge" was high – – Robert Downey Jnr, Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga, Billy Bob Thornton… great cast. And whilst the film is still good, it suffered in my view from getting rather bogged down in family melodrama.

The film opens with a series of stills of various items, all of which play a key part in the plot as it unfurls. Robert Downey Jnr plays hot-shot Chicago defence lawyer Hank Palmer who has a reputation for getting guilty clients off the rap in return for a big fee. He has a hot house, a hot wife and various hot cars. The death of his mother forces him back to his childhood home in Indiana – a place he has not been since his turbulent teenage years. A key reason for his absence is his father Joseph, the Judge of the title (Robert Duvall), with whom he has something of a difficult relationship. When on the day of the funeral Judge Palmer gets into his own brand of legal trouble, a battle ensues as to whether Hank can overturn his father's stubborn views that he is better represented by the local hick lawyer cum shopkeeper C.P. Kennedy (played extremely well by Dax Sheperd).

Surrounding this main story are the various sub-plots involving his relationship with his three brothers, his past high school flame and his hauntingly torrid past within his home town.

There is great acting on display here. Veteran actor Robert Duvall in particular is exceptional in the lead role, struggling to balance the conflicting demands of his defence with his reputation within the community. Also on top form, Billy Bob Thornton plays a devastatingly fearsome prosecution lawyer – looking like a hawk, you would hate to be in the witness box when he started on you! Robert Downey Jnr, when he gets his teeth into the meatier scenes, is also exceptional: one scene in particular with Thornton in the police station office is just riveting. However, I felt Downey Jnr sometimes drifted into being (as my son neatly put it) "a bit Tony Stark-ish in places": playing out the old disarming comedy schtick works brilliantly in the Iron Man or Sherlock Holmes films, but in this intense drama it sometimes detracted from the character of the film. The ever-reliable, and this time blonde, Vera Farmiga plays Samantha, the high school beauty he left behind who he finds still serving behind the bar of the local diner (although with a nice twist). However her role really isn't fleshed out particularly well and she feels underused in the plot and the film in general.

Where the film struggles is in the screenplay which seems to be bogged down with too much 'stuff' that needs to be worked through. The core story, albeit rather formulaic, is good and compelling and doesn't really need all the extra baggage. A more judicious (no pun intended) edit and a reduction in the running time would have helped. The film also seems to try to play a 'fish out of water' card of the hot-shot lawyer in the backwater town, but rather misses the mark. Nice try but no cigar.

Another significant criticism for me was in the sound mixing department. This might be my 50+ year old ears, but what with the fast delivery of lines and Duvall's gruff style, a lot of the dialogue didn't successfully make the short journey between ear and brain. And there were some really key lines of dialogue that I missed. If this was on the TV, I would be constantly hitting rewind to catch what was said – unfortunately they don't let you do that in the cinema.

Outstanding though was the cinematography (by the great Janusz Kaminski). The film was shot in Massachusetts (principally the town of Shelburne Falls) and it looks beautiful, with clever boom work delivering sweeping and cleverly composed shots of the town. In particular, there is one stunning shot of Downey Jnr driving into town near the start of the film which is just superb. I'm not sure how it was done, but I'm thinking possibly a drone attached to the moving car that was then untethered and flew away? Breathtaking… almost worth the ticket price alone! In summary, not a perfect film but one with enough emotion and acting talent on display to be worthy of your multiplex investment.

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"The Judge" is one of those films that with decidedly lesser and less passionate talent could've been a more evident hot mess than it already is. In its current form, however, it's a rare hot mess that succeeds mostly because of the audacity and chemistry of its performers, on top of the entertaining content it provides us, despite its lengthy runtime (one-hundred and thirty-seven minutes minus credits).

The film concerns Hank Palmer (Robert Downey, Jr.), an immensely successful, arrogant Chicago lawyer, who returns to his hometown of Carlinville, Indiana for his mother's funeral, leaving behind an unsatisfied wife who wants out of their marriage and a young daughter who knows a bit too much for her age. Upon returning to Carlinville, Hank reconnects with his two siblings and realizes all the reasons him and his father, Judge Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall), have severed all ties to each other. Hank detests his father for not just his stubborn and sometimes vague natures, but his crooked sensibilities that often come off as brash and inhuman.

Hank realizes he'll have to extend his stay in Carlinville when his father is suspected of murdering a man he sent to prison some years ago. After a long, emotional night at his wife's funeral, Joseph wakes up to find his car scratched with blood in the front-grill that matches the blood of the victim he hit, who was riding on the street on a bicycle. After being granted the ability by Joseph, Hank now has to go about defending his father, as he is up against the equally-renowned prosecutor Dwight Dickham (Billy Bob Thornton).

I cannot proceed further into analysis until I recognize the beauty of Downey, Jr. and Duvall's chemistry and their individual performances. Both actors convey such a natural feeling of stubbornness and gusto that, when both men are in the room together, often occupied by tense arguing or bickering, "The Judge" electrifies the audience. Downey, Jr., even as he nears fifty, occupies the sensibilities and the mindset of a cocky frat boy in the best possible way, and Duvall, in his early-eighties, finds commendable energy in his role as the judge-turned-convict. When put together and given personalities that the men can convey in their sleep (Downey Jr.'s cocky, holier-than- thou attitude and Duvall's all-knowing attitude but occasionally vague intentions), the film explodes on screen.

Then there's the man who is likely going to get little praise, due to his minimal involvement until the final act of the film, Billy Bob Thornton, doing the best Billy Bob Thornton performance possible. You know the type: confident, but not foolishly cocky, well-spoken, with a humble southern drawl, and groomed but mannered method to his madness. Right off the bat, we have three incredible talents gracing the screen at one time, which almost makes us forget how average and often cluttered the story really is.

"The Judge" suffers from the classic issue of having too many subplots. In my plot summation, I mentioned two (the divorce and the murder trial), yet that doesn't even scratch the film's surface of how many bases it attempts to hit. Aside from trying to play up the "father never loved me" storyline, "The Judge" attempts to build so much around the life of Hank that it can't keep up. We have a divorce, the rekindling of an old relationship, a possible deadbeat dad situation, a vague future, and that's not even considering the subplots and other features plaguing the other characters, like Joseph and his other two sons. There is simply too much occurring in "The Judge" to effectively appreciate everything it has to offer.

Then there's the fact that the courtroom scenes of the film, unlike in "Flight," back in 2012, which proved not to be something they were ostracized as prior to the film's release, which find themselves too lost in the affinity of theatricalities rather than realism. By this point, the whole film has taken a realistic, human focus to its story, and to see "The Judge" take on brazen obviousness in the way of courtroom shouting and disobedience finds ways to be offputting at times.

Nonetheless, "The Judge" is, above all, an audience's film, meaning that most people who go to see this film will, in turn, love it, and find themselves reflecting on life, their family, and themselves. I'd be lying if I said this film didn't hit personal chords, depicting a troubled relationship between father-and-son that I have encountered in life countless times, with attitudes and stances greatly mirroring my own reality. For this reason, among the fact that the film's performances are truly something to take in and the film's human interest never loses sight despite a heavy dependence on storyline, I'm recommending "The Judge" to people as a solid piece of adult drama with a modern, human focus; we hardly ever get those anymore by someone who's name isn't Alexander Payne.