Reviews of the film "Judge" will appeal to everyone who is a fan of legal dramas and actors Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall. This is a film by David Dobkin, which was released in 2014. It is worth noting that the world film press perceived the tape ambiguously, while it was nevertheless noted with a number of awards, primarily for acting.
Creating a picture
Reviews for the movie "Judge" are often quite the opposite. The idea of the script appeared in 2011, the author of the original version was Nick Schenk. The producers then hired David Seidler to rewrite him. A year later, Seidler was replaced by Bill Dubuc.
In the spring of 2013, it became known who will be busy in the film on the main roles. Tommy Lee Jones and Jack Nicholson were considered for the role of the main character, but Duval was approved as a result.
Filming began in Massachusetts in the spring of 2013. Some scenes were filmed in Boston.
Plot
At the beginning of the picture, viewers get acquainted with the successful lawyer Hank Palmer, who comes to his hometown for his mother’s funeral. However, those around him were not at all happy, moreover, during his absence, relations with his older brother and father had deteriorated completely. The reason for this is that, having left to build a career, Hank ceased to maintain any relationship with his family.
After the funeral, Hank adjusts everything so that his brother Glen crashes into the garage, ruining the gate. In the garage, the brothers discover that their father’s car has blood marks, and one of the headlights is broken. Meanwhile, police find Mark Blackwell’s corpse on the road, which was sentenced by Judge Palmer for 20 years, and has recently been released.
The father of the protagonist is detained, suspecting a murder. Joseph himself does not remember what happened.
Father and son
An experienced lawyer Hank offers his father protection, but he refuses, preferring an inexperienced lawyer to his son, with whom he has a bad relationship. On the side of the prosecution stands the prosecutor Dwitzt Dickham, who does not like Hank because of old cases. Due to his inexperience, the lawyer of the main character, CP P. Kennedy, loses at the preliminary hearing, the case is being transferred to court.
Hank is about to return to work, but his brother convinces him to stay. In addition, in the city he meets his first love, and then meets the daughter of this woman. Having learned her exact age, the lawyer realizes that he can be her father. However, it later turns out that he is his brother Glen.
Attorney Hank decides to stay, soon finding out that his father has cancer. Due to chemotherapy, he develops memory lapses that he seeks to carefully hide from others. If this becomes known, then the people convicted by him will get a chance to appeal, and all his court decisions will be reviewed.
Successful Defense
While his father is in pre-trial detention, Hank still manages to establish a relationship with him, he agrees to his help. The main character begins to actively help C.P.
He immediately smashes all the evidence found earlier, and when the mother of the deceased claims that her son was her only joy, she missed him and waited a long time, the lawyer with the help of the prison visit journal proves that she only visited him twice in prison for 20 years , that is, her words are a hoax. In addition, he argues that the lack of stopping distance from tires at the crime scene is not proof of guilt.
During the break, Hank personally communicates with the prosecutor Dickham. He shows him evidence, which shows how Blackwell goes in one direction, and Palmer sends in the other, and then turns around and goes in the direction in which the deceased retired.
Dickham needed this meeting to offer a deal. She offers the defense of the judge to plead guilty, he will receive 10 years in prison, and after seven he will be released. Hank does not believe that his father could be a killer, so he is going to protect him until the very end.
Trial
The trial continues. During the interrogation of Palmer, the prosecutor asks him about the night of the murder, but the judge cannot remember anything. Hank is almost certain of victory, but then his father admits that he could have a motive to kill Blackwell. He met him at the grocery store, the offender uttered a blasphemous phrase addressed to the wife of Palmer, as well as the girl he killed. In the end, he admits that he does not remember only how he brought down this bastard.
Hank decides to take a desperate step, revealing his father’s illness in court, hoping for indulgence from the justice side. As a result, the jury found him not guilty of first-degree murder, but considered manslaughter proven.
Palmer is sentenced to four years in prison, released seven months later for reasons of humanity. Hank spends the last day of his life with his father, after which his attitude to the outside world changes completely.
In the final scene of the film “Judge” in 2014, the main character turns his father’s chair in the courtroom, which stops, pointing at him. The audience can only guess about further events in the lives of the heroes. At least, nothing is known about the shooting of the film “Judge 2”.
Awards
Despite the ambiguous attitude of critics, the picture was awarded a number of awards and nominations at prestigious festivals. First of all, the work of the actors of the film "Judge" was noted.
The film was nominated for the Satellite Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, Golden Globe and Critics' Choice.
Robert Duvall even claimed the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in the film Judge. However, the award went to Jonathan Kimble Simmons, who created the image of Terence Fletcher in Damien Chazell's musical psychological drama Obsession.
Robert Downey Jr
The main role of a successful lawyer Hank Palmer in this tape was played by two-time Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr. He is a native of New York, was born in 1965. His father, known as Robert Downey Sr., was a popular actor and director. For example, he played in the detective William Fridkin's "Live and Die in Los Angeles" in 1985. Among his directorial works, the comedy “Too Much Sun” of 1991 became the most famous, in which he and Eric Idle played the main roles.
Robert Downey Jr. began his career on the popular American television show Saturday Night Live, where he worked for a season. At the same time, he acted in films even earlier, when he was a child. For example, in his father’s film “Corral,” when he was only five years old.
He becomes a well-known and sought-after actor in the 90s after roles in the comedy action movie Roger Spottyswood "Air America", the comedy by Michael Hoffman "Big Foam", the criminal melodrama Oliver Stone's "Natural Born Killers".
One of his most successful works in his acting career is becoming the main role in the dramatic action movie Chaplin by Richard Attenborough, which brings him the first Oscar nomination in his career. It is not possible to win the coveted figurine, the award goes to Al Pacino for the image of Lt. Col. Frank Slade in Martin Brest's drama “The Smell of a Woman”.
The end of the 90s in the career of the actor turned out to be scandalous. The press constantly wrote about his drug addiction and prison sentences. He managed to get back to work thanks to the TV series "Ellie McBeal", for which he received the Golden Globe. This was followed by a series of vivid roles, including actor Kirk Lazarius in Ben Stiller’s black comedy “Soldiers of Failure,” which brings him a second Oscar nomination. This time, success bypasses him. The best supporting actor is Heath Ledger, who played the Joker in the superhero action movie Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight.
In recent years, Robert Downey Jr. is still a sought-after actor, mostly playing in comics.
Robert Duvall
Judge Joseph Palmer, the father of the protagonist, is played by American actor Robert Duvall. He is already 87 years old. In his career, a large number of bright and significant roles. One of the first was the image of Arthur "Scarecrows" Radley in the cult drama Robert Mulligan's "To Kill a Mockingbird."
Six times in his career, he was nominated for an Academy Award. He received the award once - for his role as a country singer in the 1983 musical tender drama Bruce Beresford. He is also known for Robert Altman’s black comedy “The Military Field Hospital”, the gangster drama Francis Ford Coppola “The Godfather”, and the military drama “Copocola Apocalypse Today”.
The film "Judge" at the moment remains his last work in a big movie.
Viewers Opinions
Despite the fact that critics evaluated the picture ambiguously, viewers mostly left positive reviews for the 2014 film “Judge”. They especially praised acting. For some of them, Judge is the best movie of 2014.
The picture really turned out powerful and versatile. Almost everyone here can find something interesting for themselves. At the height of not only directorial, but also camera work, which allows us to attribute “Judge” to the best films of 2014.
At the height of acting. And not only the main characters, but also secondary characters, among whom there were many worthy artists who showed their best side.
The creators carefully and attentively reacted to such a difficult and acute problem as the relationship between fathers and children, trying to show as objectively as possible how the situation could develop in real conditions.
Negative
It should be admitted that there were negative reviews about the film "Judge". Those who do not like the picture, argue that this is the next passing tape, which annually come out in Hollywood in large numbers.
Immediately after watching, many sought to find out who was the director of this tape. It turned out that in the track record of David Dobkin, the most famous works are Shanghai Knights and Uninvited Guests, that is, adventure comedies and action films. The drama genre was new to him. Obviously, the director did not cope with the task.
All this led to a lot of negative reviews about the movie "Judge".