Directed and Written by : Gary Ross
Starring : Matthew McConaughey, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali
Release Date : June 16, 2016
Despite the value of telling the tale of this important and historical story, "Free State Of Jones" is at best just a competent movie. This film is based on a true story that lasted for years, filled with many different characters and circumstances, and it probably should have been told in a more epic and cinematic fashion than what we actually got. What we got here instead felt like a 12 part TV mini-series that's just been condensed down to a 139 minutes movie.
As directed and written by Gary Ross, this movie is simply a pretty straight-forward historical biography. In terms of facts, there are liberties taken with certain events and characters, but that doesn't really tarnish the spirit of this story, which is what appears to be the true point of making this film. For a movie based in the American Civil War, this isn't trying to focus too much on battle sequences, but on the themes and lessons from this story. It doesn't mean it shies away from showing graphic violence in the few battle scenes it does have however.
Even with a huge ensemble cast, Matthew McConaughey as Newton Knight, still seems to be carrying most of the weight of this movie by himself. The rest of the cast from Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, to Christopher Berry, all do a great job standing out among all the many actors, but this is still very much a McConaughey-centric movie through and through. There's no denying that he is at least very good in this. McConaughey also has to do a lot of monologues in this one, which is part of the reason this movie may feel a bit dry and didactic to viewers.
Despite the fact "Free State Of Jones" turned out to just be an adequate film, this powerful story should still resonate very well with people. If all this movie did was educate people about this historical story, and the actions of Newton Knight, then this film most definitely needed to be made and did it's job.
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