The Trial Of Chicago 7 Review: 8 Ups & 2 Downs

By Jack Pooley /

6. Aaron Sorkin's Typically Witty Screenplay

Netflix

If you can forgive how Sorkin-y it gets at times, there's little denying that Sorkin's script is one of the year's wittiest and most cleverly constructed, ensuring it's an early frontrunner for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar - which, if Sorkin wins it, would be his second Oscar triumph after The Social Network's Best Adapted Screenplay win.

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If it goes occasionally overboard, for the most part the script is jam-packed with terrifically clever dialogue which serves both the characters and the film's themes exceptionally well.

And even when it does skirt the fringes of realism, it's generally in the service of ensuring the movie's politics and worldview are shouted loud to audiences in the most righteous way possible.

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Between its wry wordplay and excellent structure - particularly its fragmented use of time - this is the sort of script only a true master of storytelling could deliver.