“The Trial of the Chicago 7” Gets Powerful, Timely Trailer

By Kip Mooney • On • In Trailer Trailer Comments Off on “The Trial of the Chicago 7” Gets Powerful, Timely Trailer

I'm a major Aaron Sorkin apologist. I've seen all his TV shows multiple times, as well as his movies. An extremely verbose and passionate writer, you always run the risk of something sincere but embarrassing. He's had plenty of lows (the father-daughter reunion in Molly's Game, the campus rape episode of The Newsroom), but when he hits his highs (Sean Parker seducing Mark Zuckerberg with power in The Social Network, President Bartlett cursing God on The West Wing), that's about as good as movies and TV get.

So when I heard he was bringing the long-gestating dramatization of the Chicago 7 trial to the big screen, I went full Barney Gumble. And when I learned Netflix bought the film from Paramount, I got even more excited, because this meant I'd get to see it sooner. The trailer shot this up to my most anticipated movie of the fall.

The movie couldn't be more timely, as we've seen protests going on pretty much non-stop since this summer. Even more specifically, the trailer features images of police brutality and methods of protest that aren't strictly "peaceful." "This is a revolution," says Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen). "We may hurt somebody's feelings." And protestors are dismissed as "rebels without a job" and a "threat to national security," which shows tactics on both sides haven't changed that much in 50-plus years.

And my word, that cast. In addition to Cohen, the film features Oscar winners Eddie Redmayne and Mark Rylance, Oscar nominees Michael Keaton and Frank Langella, and new Emmy winners Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Jeremy Strong. Plus, great character actors like John Carroll Lynch and John Doman.

The Trial of the Chicago 7 is currently in limited theaters and will debut on Netflix on October 16.

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.