A Rotten Tomatoes 39% critics score and a 95% audience score. That seems about right for the optimistic yet somber, audience-pleasing A Journal for Jordan, Denzel Washington’s (Antwone Fisher, Fences) fourth directed movie and first collaboration with fan-favorite Michael B. Jordan (Creed, Black Panther). This movie felt flat and disjointed, yet I could easily understand the enjoyment some might feel if they were interested in watching an evolving love story. Unfortunately, this film would have been better suited as a made-for-television movie than a movie with aspirations of anything more.
A Journal for Jordan is a true story taken from the 2008 memoir of New York Times reporter Dana Canedy (portrayed by Chanté Adams of Monsters and Men and The Photograph. The premise of the movie is plenty simple. First Sergeant Charles (Jordan), a soldier employed by the United States Army, is husband to Dana and father to Jordan, a child he meets only once before his untimely death in the War in Iraq.
The film’s premise might imply that we spend quite a bit of time with the young Jordan as he navigates through life without a present father, but one who left journal entries for him to read as he reaches different stages of his life. The entries would serve as life lessons and a way to know his father in ways that even Dana (though she tried) never could. Perhaps this could have been portrayed through flashbacks of the careful eye of a deft Washington. But that wasn’t what we experienced. Instead, we received a budding love story between Charles and Dana. They (mostly) successfully navigated the complexities of a relationship between an active soldier serving overseas and the civilian he is courting back in the United States.
We first meet the soon-to-be couple when Charles is hanging a painting for Dana’s father, T.J. (Ray, Motherless Brooklyn). Though she promised she would never fall for a soldier (we learn that T.J. wasn’t always the most loyal husband to Dana’s mother), she is quickly enamored by Charles’s handsomeness and artistic creativity. Charles was hanging the art piece when he created it himself through the pointillism technique taught to us by Georges Seurat. Charles is kind and respectful to Dana from their first encounter, something she was never really able to witness through her parent’s actions. Charles and Dana begin as friends, which Charles says is necessary for any relationship. Charles is cordial in a way that anyone would appreciate. Dana is warm with affection but slow with touch, allowing only those she trusts intimately to grow close to her. Charles was not a flirt. Dana’s personality was not that of someone who would lead someone on. Instead, their relationship was based on mutual respect and felt refreshing. While perhaps not as in line with what its title suggests, this is the party of Canedy’s memoir that Washington fleshed out. While this was done well on his part, we’ve seen this exact formula played out on screen dozens of times.
Though it attempted to tap into many essential parts of life (long-distance relationships, the birth of a child, parenting, the death of a spouse, etc.), the narrative fails to stir real emotion. While we liked each of our leads, we didn’t feel any reaction to their life events. Perhaps it was because we knew how this story would end before the movie began, or maybe it was because Washington kept at the same arm’s length that Charles kept from Dana when talking about his feelings. While he was a friend, companion, artist, and dutiful citizen, he was foremost a soldier.
We only get a hazy glimpse of the journal’s contents and only meet the teenage version of Jordan in the film’s final 15 minutes. By then, it’s too late to care. A rush to the finish line doomed a movie that had already kept us waiting too long for any payoff. Had the journal entries connected Jordan and his father, we would have had a more fulfilling story. Furthermore, it would have been rewarding to watch Jordan becoming the man Charles hoped he would be through the eyes of Dana. Washington is a far better director than A Journal for Jordan suggested. His messy, passionless snapshot of the memoir failed to resonate, resulting in a failing effort of this Hollywood heavyweight.
Plot 6.5/10 (this was a been there/done that type of movie/book that we’ve all seen/read dozens of times, with far more success)
Character Development 8.5/10 (for as much as the film falters, Washington and Adams did well advancing each of their characters)
Character Chemistry 8.5/10 (the romance between Charles and Dana from its infancy was a storybook type of love. It was sweet and tender and how most of us envision our dream relationships, in many ways)
Acting 6.5/10 (Jordan was fine as Charles. Adams held her on as Dana. That was about it. Jalon Christian as a teenage Jordan was not the greatest of choices)
Screenplay 4/10 (Washington missed the mark with this. The film’s point was to connect Charles and Jordan through the father’s letters to his son. Jordan felt like more of an afterthought to the relationship between Charles and Dana. Washington seemed to realize this and tried to make Jordan a focal point in the last 15 minutes. Jordan didn’t matter to us by that point. Dana did. She was the character who experienced Charle’s love. The ending was both rushed and forced. A Journal for Jordan could have excelled with a present-day Jordan reading his father’s words and seeing how each entry affected his life—a missed opportunity.
Directing 5.5/10 (Washington is one of the greatest actors of all time and an accomplished director. With the successes of Antwone Fisher, Fences, and The Great Debaters, we expected much more than this mostly lackluster and often lazy film.
Cinematography 5/10 (it felt flat…it also always felt like we were watching a movie)
Sound 5/10
Hook and Reel 7.5/10
Universal Relevance 8/10
65%
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