The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) Review

 "I couldn't care less what you're tired of."
-Bobby Seale



In Chicago, a protest about the Vietnam War gets out of hand and turns into a riot.  Charges are brought against eight people who were involved.  As the defendants try to argue that the police started the riots, they run into jury harassment and blatant favoritism towards the prosecution from the Judge presiding over the trial.


What Works:

If you're looking for a movie to make you angry, this one fits the bill.  I was raging on my couch at the utter bulls**t the defendants faced.  This is an aggravating movie in a good way.  It will make you feel things and probably make you want to go protest yourself.

I love courtroom dramas and this is a truly great one.  I know this is a genre of movie that is overly dramatized, but I don't care.  What's fun here is that this trial was wild in real life and far more dramatic than your average trial.  So while some events are played up for the movie, some of them aren't and the fact that some of this actually happened is insane.

The performances are fantastic across the board.  Mark Rylance is my favorite as the main attorney for the defendants.  Seeing him lose his faith in the legal system as Judge Hoffman (Frank Langella) continues to be the worst is excellent.  He gets cited for contempt of court multiple times and every time it's very satisfying to watch him do what he does.  

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Bobby Seale, the 8th defendant and the only black member of the group.  He gives an incredible performance and the way he is treated is so blatantly unfair and racist that it's hard to watch.  He gets the most insane part of the film that actually happened and it's intense.  He's very easy to root for and my favorite of the defendants.

Frank Langella is excellent as our main antagonist.  I don't think I've hated a character this much since Professor Umbridge.  He's just the worst and I hate every single thing that comes out of his mouth.  This movie is less about rooting for the Chicago 7 and more about rooting against this a**hole.  


What Sucks:

The only thing about this movie I didn't like is the final scene.  It's a little hokey as Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) reads off a bunch of names of fallen Vietnam soldiers.  It'd be different if it actually happened the way this film suggests, but they take some creative liberties.  Again, I'm not against creative liberties, but in this case it makes the ending of the movie a little lackluster.


Verdict:

The Trial of the Chicago 7 is the best movie I have seen so far this year.  It's an excellent courtroom drama with fantastic performances from Rylance, Abdul-Mateen II, and Langella.  I didn't love the final scene, but this movie will make you angry and it has definitely got it going on.

 9/10: Great    


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