The Judge

Big city lawyer Hank Palmer returns to his childhood home where his father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder. Hank sets out to discover the truth and, along the way, reconnects with his estranged family.

The Judge is directed by David Dobkin and stars Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall. It's cool to see Robert Downey Jr. in a role that doesn't involves him putting an iron suit on. This man has talent, he actually is an excellent actor, I recommend to check out some of his movies from the 90's to early 2000. Of course Robert Duvall was in To Kill a Mockingbird, he's a fantastic and iconic actor since for ever. This movie is exciting. Firstly I'm impressed; not only this film is funny but it's also very interesting, an almost two and a half hours movie and you are never bored. That's what I called Cinema. Though, there is nothing original about the story but it does focus a lot on hi characters. Plus, Robert Downey Jr. is excellent in this film; he steels every scene he's in and that's pretty the whole movie. As I said before, it's good to see him again playing an adult male character other than Iron Man, he's great as Iron Man but this actor can do serious adult drama movies and killed it as well. It reminds me of Zodiac. It's also great to have Robert Duvall back because for the past few years he was just a cool supporting actor showing up for few scenes and that's pretty much it; but here he's GOOD! Vincent D'Onofrio is terrific in the movie as well as Billy Bob Thornton who is the "bad" guy but he's just doing his job, he's underused. However, on the one hand there are some intense and powerful scenes between the two protagonists but in the other hand some are a bit cheesy and unrealistic. Everything involving the girl and her daughter in the movie could have been erased. It's evolving around this father and son emotion, you don't really need her. Vera Farmiga is a good actress but it won't miss something if they skip it, I would even say that this is a little irrelevant to the overall plot. Finally, I feel like there weren't enough of the court room scenes, that are my favorite ones; they keep showing those a bit boring and useless family drama dynamic argument when the main plot take place around this super interesting case.

Overall The Judge is an effective and well directed movie with performances that all are very good, the story is very interesting, showing family bonding and doing something good for the world as when you walk out of this movie, the only thing you want to do is call your father.

But if you want a great story, lots of character development and first rate acting then The Judge is about as good as you'll get this year.

Robert Downey, Jr. has always shown himself to be a top quality actor. His role here as Henry Palmer is no exception. Watching him here you forget about all the high-tech comic book movies he's done. This, I'm sure, is the kind of role actors look for when they have no trouble paying the bills.

Vera Farmiga is very impressive as the love interest. She's both beautiful and talented.

But Vincent D'Onofrio was possibly the most impressive. There's always something just under the surface, whether he's playing a stressed out Marine recruit, an over worked homicide detective, or the big brother who missed his chance at Big League dreams, D'Onofrio may have given the most understated performance of the whole film.

I highly recommend this one if you like quality drama.

I don't usually write a review, but I feel compelled to defend this film against critics who, I feel, have unfairly given it a low rating. While its premise is not necessarily unique and it has its fair share of clichés, The Judge is a deeply moving film that showcases the acting powerhouse that is Robert Duvall and the undeniable versatility and magnetic screen presence of Robert Downey Jr. There are also strong supporting performances from Vera Farmiga (she and RJD have great chemistry), Billy Bob Thornton, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Jeremy Strong. I dare anyone who has dealt with family issues not to be affected. Forget the critics - they don't know everything - and do yourself a favour and watch The Judge. You won't regret it.

Firstly I have to say that the trailer I saw for The Judge advertised it as a courtroom/family drama with some comedy thrown in. Who doesn't love the family feud type films, where the black sheep of the family returns home for a funeral/wedding/divorce etc? And I was looking forward to seeing Robert Downey Jr in a different role from Tony Stark/Iron Man. What I didn't expect was a bit of a tearjerker.

The story itself is fairly clichéd. A lawyer (Robert Downey Jr) in the middle of a messy separation returns home for his mother's funeral. His estranged father (Robert Duvall) doesn't want anything to do with him. He rekindles romance with an old flame (Vera Farmiga). It's the performances though that make it engaging and stop it from potentially being just another straight to DVD release.

The film is beautifully directed by David Dobkin. Downey Jr and Duvall are both excellent. Their scenes are strong and emotional. I also loved Vincent D'Onofrio and Jeremy Strong (as Downey Jr's older and younger brothers respectively). They are terrific. Farmiga, Dax Shepard and Billy Bob Thornton are all great, but I felt they were somewhat underused.

Even though I think that there was a bit too much going on and at times it got a bit too sentimental, I still very much enjoyed The Judge for the most part. It is a touching and absorbing film, that will make you laugh and cry, and if you are a fan of either Downey Jr or Duvall you'll love it.

Based on the trailer, my anticipation for seeing "The Judge" was high – – Robert Downey Jnr, Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga, Billy Bob Thornton… great cast. And whilst the film is still good, it suffered in my view from getting rather bogged down in family melodrama.

The film opens with a series of stills of various items, all of which play a key part in the plot as it unfurls. Robert Downey Jnr plays hot-shot Chicago defence lawyer Hank Palmer who has a reputation for getting guilty clients off the rap in return for a big fee. He has a hot house, a hot wife and various hot cars. The death of his mother forces him back to his childhood home in Indiana – a place he has not been since his turbulent teenage years. A key reason for his absence is his father Joseph, the Judge of the title (Robert Duvall), with whom he has something of a difficult relationship. When on the day of the funeral Judge Palmer gets into his own brand of legal trouble, a battle ensues as to whether Hank can overturn his father's stubborn views that he is better represented by the local hick lawyer cum shopkeeper C.P. Kennedy (played extremely well by Dax Sheperd).

Surrounding this main story are the various sub-plots involving his relationship with his three brothers, his past high school flame and his hauntingly torrid past within his home town.

There is great acting on display here. Veteran actor Robert Duvall in particular is exceptional in the lead role, struggling to balance the conflicting demands of his defence with his reputation within the community. Also on top form, Billy Bob Thornton plays a devastatingly fearsome prosecution lawyer – looking like a hawk, you would hate to be in the witness box when he started on you! Robert Downey Jnr, when he gets his teeth into the meatier scenes, is also exceptional: one scene in particular with Thornton in the police station office is just riveting. However, I felt Downey Jnr sometimes drifted into being (as my son neatly put it) "a bit Tony Stark-ish in places": playing out the old disarming comedy schtick works brilliantly in the Iron Man or Sherlock Holmes films, but in this intense drama it sometimes detracted from the character of the film. The ever-reliable, and this time blonde, Vera Farmiga plays Samantha, the high school beauty he left behind who he finds still serving behind the bar of the local diner (although with a nice twist). However her role really isn't fleshed out particularly well and she feels underused in the plot and the film in general.

Where the film struggles is in the screenplay which seems to be bogged down with too much 'stuff' that needs to be worked through. The core story, albeit rather formulaic, is good and compelling and doesn't really need all the extra baggage. A more judicious (no pun intended) edit and a reduction in the running time would have helped. The film also seems to try to play a 'fish out of water' card of the hot-shot lawyer in the backwater town, but rather misses the mark. Nice try but no cigar.

Another significant criticism for me was in the sound mixing department. This might be my 50+ year old ears, but what with the fast delivery of lines and Duvall's gruff style, a lot of the dialogue didn't successfully make the short journey between ear and brain. And there were some really key lines of dialogue that I missed. If this was on the TV, I would be constantly hitting rewind to catch what was said – unfortunately they don't let you do that in the cinema.

Outstanding though was the cinematography (by the great Janusz Kaminski). The film was shot in Massachusetts (principally the town of Shelburne Falls) and it looks beautiful, with clever boom work delivering sweeping and cleverly composed shots of the town. In particular, there is one stunning shot of Downey Jnr driving into town near the start of the film which is just superb. I'm not sure how it was done, but I'm thinking possibly a drone attached to the moving car that was then untethered and flew away? Breathtaking… almost worth the ticket price alone! In summary, not a perfect film but one with enough emotion and acting talent on display to be worthy of your multiplex investment.

(If you enjoyed this review please sign up for my future reviews at bob-the-movie-man.com. Thanks.)