On the row

Just Mercy

Crit

The insistent early appearance of Basil Exposition is the first clue that this is going to be narrative challenged, and indeed, we have unambiguous heroes and easy villains and a plot that goes exactly where it needs to for maximum effect (and affect). But then, maybe the story of Equal Justice Initiative founder and sustainer Bryan Stevenson (Michael B. Jordan) and his railroaded client Walter "Johnnie D" McMillan (Jamie Foxx) has fewer gray areas than most.

In any case, this is an actors' movie--not just the above-the-title ones like Jordan and Foxx and Brie Larson but also Johnnie's death row mates, played by O'Shea Jackson Jr. and Rob Morgan. Morgan, in fact, as Herbert Richardson, who set off a bomb under a house after returning from Vietnam with PTSD, steals the role as emotional center of the film from some pretty potent candidates.

Not a great film, but one whose heart is so firmly in the right place that its flaws are forgivable.

• New trailers: The Lovebirds, which looks like a mashup of Queen & Slim and Stuber (I'll leave it to you whether that's a good idea); and Tenet, which looks like a Christopher Nolan film, and is.