Michael B. Jordan and Oscar winners Jamie Foxx who has been featured in such movies as “Ray,” “Baby Driver,” “Django and Unchained” alongside and Brie Larson of “Room,” “Short Term 12,” and “Captain Marvel” star in “Just Mercy,” an inspiring drama that brings one of the most important stories of our time to the big screen. 

ward-winning filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton who did “The Glass Castle,” and “Short Term 12” brought his directing chops to the film from a screenplay he co-wrote, based on Bryan Stevenson’s bestselling memoir. 

“Just Mercy” is based on the powerful and thought-provoking true story of young lawyer Bryan Stevenson played by Jordan and his history-making battle for justice. After graduating from Harvard, Bryan had his pick of lucrative jobs. Instead, he heads to Alabama to defend those wrongly condemned or who were not afforded proper representation, with the support of local advocate Eva Ansley who was skilled fully played by Larson. One of his first, and most incendiary, cases is that of Walter McMillian played by Jamie Foxx, who found himself in 1987, was sentenced to die for the notorious murder of an 18-year-old girl, despite a preponderance of evidence proving his innocence and the fact that the main testimony against him came from a criminal with a motive to lie.

In the years that followed, Bryan becomes embroiled in a labyrinth of legal and political maneuverings, as well as overt and unabashed racism as he fights for Walter, and others like him, with the odds—and the system—stacked against them. 

The main cast also includes Rob Morgan who is played  Herbert “Mudbound” Richardson, a fellow prisoner who also sits on death row awaiting his fate; Tim Blake Nelson as Ralph “Wormwood” Myers, whose pivotal testimony against Walter McMillian is called into question; Rafe Spall as Tommy “The Big Short” Chapman, the District Attorney who is fighting to uphold Walter’s conviction and sentence; O’Shea Jackson Jr. of “Straight Outta Compton” fame as Anthony Ray Hinton, another wrongly convicted death row inmate whose cause is taken up by Bryan; and Karan Kendrick as Walter’s wife, Minnie “The Hate U Give” McMillian, who stands by her husband.