'The Trial of the Chicago 7' film review: Shallow & glib script is more self-important than substantial
Writer-director Aaron Sorkin's latest film, 'The Trial of the Chicago 7' (streaming on Netflix starting Oct. 16), is a historical courtroom docudrama in the strictest sense, which is not a compliment.
In short: An eclectic group of anti-Vietnam War protestors are charged with conspiracy and attempting to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Sacha Baron Cohen, Daniel Flaherty, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Keaton, Frank Langella, John Carroll Lynch, Eddie Redmayne, Noah Robbins, Mark Rylance, Alex Sharp, and Jeremy Strong.
'Chicago 7' is a painfully superficial, lazy courtroom so-called drama without much substance other than to say 'one time the government tried to railroad protestors with a sham trial.' That's it. The film rides on the eccentricity of the defendants and the courtroom circus that falls into the same trappings of all misguided docudramas: 'Chicago 7' soullessly just moves from courtroom event to courtroom event. The film's basic narrative structure just reads like the Wikipedia entry for the 'Chicago Seven.' Not helping the film's bland "and then, and then, and then" story structure is the equally shallow cast of characters. They are defined by their political and legal perspectives - reducing them to little more than avatars for anti-establishment hippies, straight-laced pacifists and radical Black Panthers. The so-called characters are caricatures standing in for various shades of political dissent.
Consider, for a moment, the baggage of moral authority. 'Chicago 7' doesn't even try to hide its transparent declaration that the defendants were either justified in their actions or innocent of the crimes they're charged of violating. The defendants are the good guys. Those putting them on trial are the bad guys. At no point does 'Chicago 7' even attempt to explore the complexities of the trial, anti-war viewpoints or the characters. Instead, Aaron Sorkin's script burns all its calories in finding pithy new ways to dunk on what amounts to a show trial. And that is where just ceding the defendants the moral high ground becomes a liability: if the characters are one-dimensional, and the plot is just a banal recitation of court proceedings - then you have a film with doomed to failure.
Ironically, 'Chicago 7' is a meaningful narrative with dimension and complexity in the very same way the real-life trial sought objective justice. That trial was a farce. This film's attempt to be anything other than melodrama is a farce. This film exists for no other reason than to "put a spotlight" on a ridiculous trial and arm its anointed heroic band of anti-war protestors with a never-ending stream of zingers. The screenplay reeks of a self-satisfaction that ranges from smug to sanctimonious. There is some cultural merit in popularizing an otherwise overlooked historical event. And if Sorkin's intent is reintroduce the public to this event, then what better way than to assemble a stellar ensemble cast and present it to the masses on the most popular streaming platform in the land? Vital and timely as this story be, these values make a film 'important' but have no bearing on its craftmanship or actual storytelling quality. Just because a film espouses sentiments and themes that may be objectively righteous doesn’t make the film itself compelling, engaging or even good.
The fundamental problem of 'Chicago 7' is the story is simply too large for this script. Perhaps it's too complex for any single feature-length film. There's simply too many moving parts, too many characters spread across too much time for 'Chicago 7' to distill the trial into a commanding and focused narrative. The film touches upon police brutality, political crackdown of free speech, competing approaches that all fall under the same blanket ideology - but in attempting to touch upon all these topics at once, 'Chicago 7' doesn't succeed in addressing any of them with the attention, time or depth they deserve.
Final verdict: A superb ensemble cast and trademark snappy Sorkin dialogue obscure this film's meager narrative integrity and value, even if its sentiments for peaceful protest and against political theater are worth celebrating.
Score: 2/5
'The Trial of the Chicago 7' streams on Netflix starting Oct. 16. This historic legal drama is rated R for language throughout, some violence, bloody images and drug use and has a runtime of 129 minutes.
