Denzel shines as a liberal hero in dragging film

Azrael Montoya In Dan Gilroy’s “Roman J. Israel Esq.,” Denzel Washington plays a hard-working civil rights activist lawyer who is stuck in the past fighting the immortal demons of injustice. After his longtime law firm partner dies, Roman goes to work for a big L.A. law firm. The man running that firm is George Pierce, played by Colin Farrel. He serves as Roman’s straight arrow, if you will. In the film Roman’s values are truly tested as he fights the present justice system. He struggles to find which reality he’s really in — one back in 1979 or the present…