Sometimes a movie comes out that you know is going to be good just from watching the previews. I knew The Judge was going to be one of those but I had no idea exactly how good. I only had a vague idea of what the movie was about when I sat down in the theater because, let’s face it, the previews are more a showcase of Robert Downey Jr being intense and Robert Duvall acting old and angry. That being said, The Judge was a fantastic movie, one of the best of 2014, and here’s my review.
Once again I find myself giving you, my dear readers, a warning about what to expect. This movie was very deep and realistic. There were quite a few times where it got intense and uncomfortable so please be warned before you sit down with your popcorn and soda. The Judge was a mix between a very heavy family drama and an equally heavy courtroom drama. Both stories were well thought out and familiar without being too predictable. The Judge avoided being melodramatic which is hard when it comes to court scenes in movies. If either side gets too heated then they risk being Tom Cruise from A Few Good Men which was good at the time but has now become old hat. Luckily RDJ and Billy Bob Thornton were able to stay passionate and engaging lawyers without slipping into melodrama.
The story behind The Judge wasn’t anything mind blowing or terribly unique but it was good enough that I was never bored. Even during some of slower parts of the film I was still invested in the characters and their plight. This was the second movie I’ve seen this Fall that dabbled in the topic of dysfunctional families and what makes them tick. This Is Where I Leave You was the first and just like that movie, The Judge did a real good job showcasing realistic problems. They did such a good job in fact that, like I mentioned above, it got uncomfortable. The good thing is that it was still so engaging that the cold realness of the story didn’t turn me off. The story also flowed at a very even pace so The Judge never felt rushed and it never lagged. It was well paced and every scene mattered. Even the series of scenes between Dax Shepard and Robert Downey Jr that were no longer than a few minutes and seemed to be a comic relief break, actually cleverly gave me hints at RDJ’s growth as a character. When you see The Judge pay attention the the first scene the two have with each other outside the courtroom and watch as it repeats and pay attention to Hank (RDJ).
A thought occurred to me as I was getting ready to talk about the acting. The thought was that there have been quite a few movies recently that had fantastic acting in it. Just think back to some of my previous reviews like Gone Girl, This is Where I Leave You, and The Drop. The Judge is just another movie in the Fall season that put substance before flashy visuals and yes, I’m making another comment on the eye cancer Michael Bay produces. Anywho, back to the acting. Robert Downey Jr’s performance of Hank Palmer reminded me exactly why he deserves to be as popular as he is. Let’s face it, he’s fantastic. Even without Tony Stark or Sherlock Holmes he still had Chaplin, U.S. Marshals, and Zodiac under his belt and those are only the roles I randomly picked from IMDB. There’s one thing you can count on in a movie that RDJ is in: Even if the movie sucks, he’ll be fantastic. Robert Duvall gave one of his better performances as the aging judge and father Joseph Palmer. He’s played old men before but this was one of the first times I actually believed he was an old man. Don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking crap about a legend. But remember the movie Open Range? He was 72 at the time of the movie and he was in a freaking Wild West gun battle! His portrayal of an old man in his twilight years was so realistic that it gave me goosebumps. I cared for my grandfather near the end of his life and Duvall played the role perfectly. Couple the realism with a handful of heartbreaking scenes and The Judge could have been carried by RDJ and Duvall on their own, but everyone else did a good job too.
Don’t let my gushing over the two leads take anything away from the other actors in the movie. Vincent D’Onofrio (second from the left in the picture above), Jeremy Strong (Second from right), Billy Bob Thornton, Vera Farmiga, and Dax Shepard were all fantastic. RDJ and Duvall may have blown me away, but it was the fact that all the other actors not just kept up with them that made the movie great. I’m so used to D’Onofrio being an intense oddball like his role on Law and Order: CI but in The Judge he was more reserved and and uncertain and I was able to forget all his past roles and only see him as Hank’s brother Glen . Billy Bob Thornton played the prosecuting attorney Dwight Dickham which was a very unsubtle comment on his character. They might as well have called him Dwight Taintface. But I digress. Event he antagonist of the movie wasn’t a bad guy in the classic sense. Like I said before, this move was very realistic and so there was no clear good and evil. Remember Robert Downey Jr from Tropic Thunder when his character Kirk Lazarus said “You never go full retard?” He would have approved of Jeremy Strong because he played a man with a mental illness but it didn’t feel over the op or cheesy. Even though I knew him from other things, I was able to believe he was Dale, the mentally challenged brother. Vera Farmiga did a stand up job as Hank’s ex and was able to do the role of a single working mother justice without having a lot of screen time. And finally there’s Dax Shepard. He was good but I wish he had a bigger role because I think he could have done a great job with a bigger character. From what I was able to see from him in the movie I hope he’s able to get more serious roles in the future. I love his comedy but I think he’ll kill as a dramatic actor.
I’m racking my brain trying to figure out what else to talk about. The story and acting was top notch and the visual aspects of the movie like setting and cinematography were good but not mind blowing. The Judge is the kind of movie you see when you want to watch a film that will make you think, make you feel the right amount of sympathetic tension, and hit you right in the feels. The Judge is one of the best movies of the year thus far if not the best. I’m going to wait until late December to give you my top 10 list for the year, but count on this movie being in the top 3 if not the top spot. The Judge was a great movie from beginning to end and I’d be more than willing to see it in theaters again if I had more time.
The Judge gets an 11 out of 11