Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall in drama The Judge

REVIEW: The Judge brings courtroom drama back to the big screen with two actors of the highest calibre — Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall.

The Judge (M)

Director: David Dobkin (Wedding Crashers)

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Robert Duvall, Billy Bob Thornton, Vincent D’Onofrio, Vera Farmiga.

Rating: ***

A life of sentencing comes to a full stop

There hasn’t been a good, meaty courtroom drama hit the big screen in many years.

There is one good reason why. Series television swiped the genre from the movies more than two decades ago — yes, Law & Order, you’re guilty as charged — and is not inclined to give it back.

While The Judgeis not the film that will bring this verdict into dispute, it is a solid, enjoyable and engrossing courtroom drama that will please traditional devotees of the form.

The legal stoush that powers the narrative engine of The Judgeis a doozy. John Grisham would gladly put his name to it (though the odds are he’s probably penned something similar by this point of his career).

Our defendant is Joseph Palmer (Robert Duvall), a cantankerous 80-year-old gent whose ornery ways have not been tempered by the recent passing of his long-suffering wife.

While Joseph is not facing charges surrounding his spouse’s death, her demise has played a role in the troubles now facing him in the small rural town of Carlinville, Indiana.

It’s complicated ... Vera Farmiga plays Robert Downey Jr’s long-lost love in The Judge.

On the night of his wife’s funeral, Joseph took his favourite convertible out for a spin. Upon his return, the vehicle was carrying a number of notable dents.

The next day, a man is found dead on the side of a quiet nearby road. He has been hit by a car.

Not a good look for old Joseph. But wait. There’s more. Much, much more.

Joseph Palmer has been the pre-eminent judge round these here parts for 40 years. If you ever did time in jail, it was Joseph that put you there.

One more thing: the dead hit-run victim was fresh out of the slammer, a no-good son-of-a-gun who copped one of Joseph’s most severe sentences.

Now Judge Joseph Palmer, a man who has wielded the law as a blunt instrument for his entire life, must stand trial and brace himself for the whack surely coming his way.

All that stands between Joseph and a certain murder rap is his defence lawyer, one Hank Palmer (Robert Downey Jr.). Hank is Joseph’s son. The pair have barely spoken in 20 years.

Fight of his life ... Robert Duvall takes the stand in The Judge.

There are many reasons why, but the most significant of them has to do with how Hank has conducted himself as a high-flying legal eagle in Chicago.

Hank is the go-to lawyer for the grubbiest types around, and he always wins. Verdicts don’t matter to Hank, only invoices. “Innocent people can’t afford me,” sums up his entire ethical world view.

The first thing that really hits you about The Judge is how much story territory it is prepared to cover.

Not only to get you fascinated by the mystery at the heart of Joseph’s case — he can’t recall anything about the fateful night in question — but also his badly damaged relationship with Hank.

Family backing ... Vincent D’Onofrio, Jeremy Strong and Robert Downey Jr as the Palmer brothers in The Judge.

The movie achieves these two goals without question. Duvall and Downey Jr. are actors of the highest calibre, and the manner in which they alternately widen and shorten the disconnect between their characters is tremendously involving.

However, at a running time of almost two and a half hours, there is some excess plotting business (principally concerning Hank’s two brothers) that could have hit the cutting-room floor without lessening The Judge’s impact.

Also great to see Billy Bob Thornton (as Hank’s steely courtroom foe) back in form after a long spell in the wilderness.

OSCARS 2014 RED CARPET

Originally published as Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall in drama The Judge