The Judge - 02/11/2014
With Robert Duvall, Robert Downey Jnr and Billy Bob Thorton in one courtroom drama, how can you not expect great performances?
Big city lawyer, Downey, returns home after his mother dies, where his father, the town's judge is suspected of murder. The father son relationship has been tumultuous for years, so working together to try and clear the judges name is difficult.
The Judge is a long and slow film, but I enjoyed every minute of it. The performances by Duvall, Downey and Thorton are superb, and you can tell the director was saying, "Okay guys, this is our Oscar nominated scene right here - act away!"
It is a court room drama, but it is mainly about the father and son relationship and the sense of loss and grief. When both leads are in the same room you can feel the tension, the brewing argument, the resentment from the son running away from his problems and family.
Clare mentioned that the film was far too long, which I agree it could have been trimmed in parts, but I was never bored and sat riveted to the performances.
The old flame relationship parts seemed to be put in to make Hank (Downey) more likable, but I think these just padded the film out and had a few moments were I wondered in which direction the film was going (ie Sam's hot daughter)
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