Roman J. Israel, Esq., a driven, idealistic defense attorney, finds himself in a tumultuous series of events that lead to a crisis and the necessity for extreme action.Roman J. Israel, Esq., a driven, idealistic defense attorney, finds himself in a tumultuous series of events that lead to a crisis and the necessity for extreme action.Roman J. Israel, Esq., a driven, idealistic defense attorney, finds himself in a tumultuous series of events that lead to a crisis and the necessity for extreme action.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 2 wins & 11 nominations total
Lynda Gravatt
- Vernita Wells
- (as Lynda Gravátt)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn the film there's a visible gap between Denzel Washington's two front teeth. He had the gap fixed with dental caps sometime after high school, but decided to remove them for this role.
- GoofsThe entire film happens over three weeks' time, but when it's mentioned that William is in a coma, which occurs at the beginning of the movie, Roman states that he has been in a coma for several weeks already.
- Quotes
Roman J. Israel, Esq.: Each of us is better than the worst thing we ever did.
- Alternate versionsAfter premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, the film was re-cut by director Dan Gilroy and star Denzel Washington. The new version is 12 minutes shorter than the festival premiere. In addition to dropping some scenes, the film now features different music on the soundtrack (replacing a number of songs) and moves a scene depicting Roman and Israel going to a Lakers game at the Staples Center to an earlier point in the story.
- SoundtracksKeep On Truckin'
Written by Leonard Caston, Anita Poree and Frank E. Wilson
Performed by Eddie Kendricks
Courtesy of Motown Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises
Featured review
I initially wanted to condemn the film as reverse racist after the flag pin remark but I decided to give it a bit more time and ended up watching it to the end. Some say they were disappointed at a slow plodding film that misused the talented Denzel and slapped them with a crappy ending. We were not watching the same film.
Here Denzel portrays a man with every possible thing against him: he's a black man with a presumed Muslim last name, who has an almost autistic nature because of his savant abilities which has repressed his ability to be financially successful because he has no real interest in money and prefers to pursue truth instead. Once scene depicts him well when he appears to be rambling and then slaps us with the conclusion bringing it all together: there is no way to retain purity. Bam. We are hit with Roman's plight.
It is these savant abilities that drive him mad in his own mind while his simplistic brilliance is overlooked and mocked. As he struggles with his predicament after losing his purpose, he makes a fatal error. But in the end we see it was really the people who looked down on him who made the error by misjudging what Roman had to offer.
In the most subtle way, the film also asks us to review how we've treated people who seem strange to us and who we have mocked for thinking or sounding different then what we believe people should sound like.
A profound character study that studies not only him impact but those who impact him.
I tried to edit my initial review but didn't see any way to do that since it wasn't published yet.
It is these savant abilities that drive him mad in his own mind while his simplistic brilliance is overlooked and mocked. As he struggles with his predicament after losing his purpose, he makes a fatal error. But in the end we see it was really the people who looked down on him who made the error by misjudging what Roman had to offer.
In the most subtle way, the film also asks us to review how we've treated people who seem strange to us and who we have mocked for thinking or sounding different then what we believe people should sound like.
A profound character study that studies not only him impact but those who impact him.
I tried to edit my initial review but didn't see any way to do that since it wasn't published yet.
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Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Roman J. Israel, Esq.: Un hombre con principios
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $22,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $11,962,778
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $61,999
- Nov 19, 2017
- Gross worldwide
- $13,025,860
- Runtime2 hours 2 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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