The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

[Eric Duncan]

Discuss

[clockwork]

This is one of those movies that just happened to catch my curiosity. I'm not a huge history or political buff nor have I seen anything from Aaron Sorkin nor have I even seen most of the cast members before so I went into this with the probably the most objective/fresh eyes one could have, and I really enjoyed it. The most obvious takeaway from this movie is it's relevancy, same things happening in here are still happening in america today. If there was an award for best/smart movie release time this would certainly take it.

 

Just as many other people across the internet have been saying the cast is the best part about this movie, everyone comes to play but the particular stand outs to me in no particular order were Mark Rylance, Sacha Baron Cohen, Eddie Redmayne, and Yaha Abdul Mateen II. This is easily the best thing Redmayne has done thus far and while I'm aware his acting/performances can be hit or miss for some people I'm standing by the opinion that he's definitely got chops, especially when the script is good.

 

Sacha Baron Cohen was really good too, especially towards the end when he is put on the stand, heard he's usually a comedic actor and he certainly brings it here. Yahya Abdul Mateen II impressed me greatly, his character is the most sympathetic of the group and the scene of him getting bound and gagged during the trial was tough to watch but unfortunately very reminiscent of the things we see in the news these days so I'm glad they kept that it.

 

The editing was really good as well, weaving back and forth between the trial and the riot/convention that took place a year prior in-universe in a way that could have been jarring and confusing in the hands of lesser editors and writers but they managed to keep things coherent and well-flowing throughout. Overall a very entertaining and relevant movie, maybe not as impactful or as deep as you'd think/want it to be but still a good time and a good lesson in that while some progress has been made the past few decades some things still remain the same, history repeats itself too often.

Edited October 16, 2020 by clockwork

[Eric Duncan]

It's not awful. A lot of the dialogue works and all the actors, especially Strong and Rylance, do fantastic work here. If anything, the cast saves a lot of it, because man this screenplay is very jumbled. Feels like characters and stories keep getting thrown at the screen one after the other and it makes it hard to stay invested in the piece. The ending is also cringy as hell.

[filmlover]

Aaron Sorkin doesn't do much to reinvent the courtroom drama and feels more scattershot than it should, but it's certainly compelling and timely with everything that's been going on in the world these days. A pretty good sophomore directorial effort from Sorkin after the similarly very good Molly's Game. This is very much an Actor's Movie, and the excellent cast he's assembled is strong across the board (even thought Eddie Redmayne was pretty good here, a nice surprise after I was starting to completely check out on his career). MVPs are Mark Rylance, Frank Langella and Jeremy Strong but this is a true ensemble in which everyone contributes something (this along with The Boys in the Band, another recent male-centric ensemble piece from Netflix, would make for worthy SAG Ensemble nominees). Too bad that ending was a total bust though, too cheesy. Pretty good stuff otherwise. B+

[DAJK]

Sure, the ending was “cheesy” in a Hollywood sense, but I think it worked for the movie that had been building up to it over the past 2 hours. I really really enjoyed this. The cast was awesome (Rylance, Redmayne, Cohen) and I liked the Keaton cameo (yea it’s pretty much a cameo). 
 

I’d probably put it on par with Molly’s Game. I want to see more movies from Sorkin please. 

[charlie Jatinder]

Best of 2020 for me so far. Loved it. Dialogues are so well written, editing and screenplay is well paced. 8/8.

[SLAM!]

Fantastic dialogue/scriptwork and a noteworthy juggling act of multiple narratives. I definitely want to see what Sorkin directs next.

[Cap]

This is gonna sound really nitpicky, But I was really turned off by how glossy the movie felt. Even if you didn’t want to shoot on film, at least put in the filter so it looks like something from the 1970s, instead of just a really slick Hollywood production. Idk. I kind of agree with @Eric #TeamKong  There was a couple of really great scenes, but for the most part it was a hot mess of a script.

 

I would also really highly suggest that everyone track down Medium Cool (1969). It also deals with Chicago during the week of the convention. And their crowd shots and protests are really intense. 

[lorddemaxus]

15 hours ago, Wondy said:

This is gonna sound really nitpicky, But I was really turned off by how glossy the movie felt. Even if you didn’t want to shoot on film, at least put in the filter so it looks like something from the 1970s, instead of just a really slick Hollywood production. Idk. I kind of agree with @Eric #TeamKong  There was a couple of really great scenes, but for the most part it was a hot mess of a script.

 

I would also really highly suggest that everyone track down Medium Cool (1969). It also deals with Chicago during the week of the convention. And their crowd shots and protests are really intense. 

I honestly can't believe this wasn't a Netflix wasn't involved in the production of this film, since it literally looks like a Netflix film. Can't wait for this to get that cinematography Oscar nom tomorrow.

Edited March 15, 2021 by lorddemaxus

[baumer]

Unequivocally one of my faves of the year.  Not quite as good as Northwood Pie, but top five for 2020 for sure.  Baron-Cohen steals every scene he's in.  And Sorkin might not re-invent the courtroom scenes but he doesn't need to .  He does what works and in this case, he does it to perfection.  My fave performance next to Borat's is from Frank Langella.  He's always been really good at playing a supreme asshole but he takes it to another level here.

 

9/10