Every single word in that description would lead one to believe Just Mercy is an inevitably powerful film that is both timely and timeless as it touches on the indifference to inequality and justice in our society as its been fated to have been constructed; a world with a “justice deficient” as Stevenson would describe it, so why then...does everything about Just Mercy feel as formulaic as the old gospel hymns referenced within it? There's no taking away that this is a good movie, but there's no denying it goes down exactly as you expect it to also. That isn't to say the story isn't important or to criticize the story the film is telling, but more it is a recognition that Cretton and co-writer Andrew Lanham (The Shack) might have done more to execute this in a fashion not so routine; to find a way of conveying the story in unexpected ways rather than resting on the fact the true story is compelling enough on its own.
