Nightcrawler always sounded like a fascinating film on a conceptual level- in fact, I'm very proud of the fact that I put it on my "Most Anticipated of 2014" list before anybody really knew what it was. That being said, I didn't even expect the film to be such an incredible knockout. With Jake Gyllenhaal exploring his most dangerously compelling character to date, the portrait of a total psychopath's pursuit of the American dream became a smash festival favorite. Nightcrawler eventually went down as an instant classic, and it announced Dan Gilroy as a director to watch. After working as a screenwriter for years, Gilroy emerged with one of the most electrifying directorial debuts in recent memory. With that in mind, expectations were incredibly high for Roman J. Israel, Esq., Gilroy's second feature that was initially described as a legal thriller with Denzel Washington. The film premiered at TIFF last month, and Sony is hoping to campaign Washington for another Oscar nomination. Yesterday, the first trailer was released for the film- watch it below!
The consensus verdict after Roman J. Israel, Esq.'s Toronto premiere seemed to be that the film is a massive disappointment, saddled with a jumbled narrative that just doesn't work. As much as I'd like to think that those mediocre responses are just indicative of unreasonable expectations, this trailer makes the film look like a tonally confused, dramatically inert mess. Nightcrawler was one of my favorite films of 2014, and its power only continues to grow each and every year. That may have been Gilroy's debut feature, but he demonstrated the power and the emotional force of a genuine master. Trust me, I want Roman Israel to be great. And this trailer shows a few interesting thematic strands- the loss of idealism, an outsider's perspective on a changing world, and so on. But as much as I love both Denzel Washington and Dan Gilroy, there just isn't much to be excited about here. I just can't tell what this movie is trying to be. Sony is looking to give Denzel a huge Oscar push, and he may indeed get in. But after a festival bomb and a flat, unconvincing trailer, it looks like Gilroy is about to have his sophomore slump.
Roman J. Israel, Esq. will open in limited release on November 3 and will slowly roll out throughout the rest of the month.
Even if this is a middling trailer, I will say that I do like this poster quite a bit.
The consensus verdict after Roman J. Israel, Esq.'s Toronto premiere seemed to be that the film is a massive disappointment, saddled with a jumbled narrative that just doesn't work. As much as I'd like to think that those mediocre responses are just indicative of unreasonable expectations, this trailer makes the film look like a tonally confused, dramatically inert mess. Nightcrawler was one of my favorite films of 2014, and its power only continues to grow each and every year. That may have been Gilroy's debut feature, but he demonstrated the power and the emotional force of a genuine master. Trust me, I want Roman Israel to be great. And this trailer shows a few interesting thematic strands- the loss of idealism, an outsider's perspective on a changing world, and so on. But as much as I love both Denzel Washington and Dan Gilroy, there just isn't much to be excited about here. I just can't tell what this movie is trying to be. Sony is looking to give Denzel a huge Oscar push, and he may indeed get in. But after a festival bomb and a flat, unconvincing trailer, it looks like Gilroy is about to have his sophomore slump.
Roman J. Israel, Esq. will open in limited release on November 3 and will slowly roll out throughout the rest of the month.
Even if this is a middling trailer, I will say that I do like this poster quite a bit.
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