Justice Smith: My Favorite Movie Roles (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Readers, I wanna take some time to gas up Justice Smith for a bit.

He’s a black american actor that I’ve been following since 2016 that has been getting some well deserved accolades in a couple of pretty big properties, both main and supporting.

And the fact that he recently came out as a fellow queer black man on Pride month in the midst of one of the most important civil rights battles currently happening in our nation

Makes me so happy to see that a new generation is forcing the industry I admire and always wanted to be part of to accept and celebrate us as opposed to forcing us to keep this side of us out of the public eye in order to have a successful career.

But La’Ron, you can’t just say he’s black. His father is African American and his mother is European...

Yeah. Just like I said; he’s black. (stares at camera) 

I first found out about Justice Smith the same way I assume a lot of people found out about Justice Smith who haven’t watched movies based on John Green’s books.

And let’s just be honest. If you THINK you found out about Justice Smith from Paper Towns, you...you really didn’t; that’s how limited his role was in the story.

Like, I’ve watched Paper Towns. Good movie, but his role and the time dedicated to his character in it is insulting to his talent. It was CLEARLY a “first step in the industry” role that anyone could’ve EASILY played

No, the role I’m of course talking about is Zeke from Baz Luhrmann’s “The Get Down” on Netflix. I saw how expressive he was and how much effort he poured into the role over the course of the series, and I’ve been a fan of his ever since

I would say the same thing about Shameik Moore from his performance in Dope, but we don’t Shameik about him no Moore...

Ever since then, I’ve seen him show up in a few supporting movie roles that I wasn’t expecting him to show up in.

The one that mainstream media recognizes him for the MOST however is the role of Franklin Webb in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and the upcoming Jurassic World: Dominion

Now I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t surprised or happy to see him in Fallen Kingdom when I saw it in theaters. One of the main things I appreciated about how he portrayed Franklin was that while he was definitely team blerd when it came to the dinosaurs, he was also team everyman when it came to the dinosaurs

And when I say Team Everyman, I mean Team “GET ME THE HELL UP OFFA THIS ISLAND”

Then he started showing up in LEADING roles, and ever since then I’ve been exponentially proud of him. Because I could see the talent within him TRULY come out, especially in two roles specifically

So if you don’t mind, I’d like to share with you all the two roles of Justice Smith in movies that are not only my favorites, but helped sold me in his overall talent and ability as an actor.

And what kind of geek would I be if I didn’t first address his role as Tim Goodman in Pokemon: Detective Pikachu??

On the surface, Justice’s Tim Goodman is a typical young adult protagonist.

Because he’s still a young actor, he can play a character in that age range that holds a grudge against his dad for never being there for him in a way that still feels fresh.

/And while I’ve definitely critiqued that the film doesn’t dedicate enough time to allow us to see that completely fleshed out to properly develop Tim’s character in the past, the bits we get from Justice in how he plays Tim deliver enough personality to the point where he’s not boring./

It’s obvious that Justice makes the best out of the script that was given to him in Detective Pikachu, but what makes this one of my favorite roles of his despite the script forcing his character to be looked at as generic is how he emotes throughout.

/Whether the situations were stressful, awkward or emotional, Justice knows how to express those emotions in his face and in his voice to the point where they feel so real and so genuine. Especially in a way for a character as young, naive and in way over his head as one would imagine a character like Tim Goodman -- a 21 year old young adult living in the Pokemon universe -- would act considering the story of Detective Pikachu/

But if you want to see Justice ACT act, then believe me when I say that you need to peep his performance of Theodore Finch in Netflix’s “All The Bright Places.”

Because I will say it without any bias or favoritism at all; Justice’s portrayal of Theodore Finch is definitely one of his greatest performances yet.

I’ll keep my thoughts on the movie as a whole separate because that may or may not be a video in its own right. What I will say however, is that if you want to see Justice’s range as an actor, peep his performance in “All The Bright Places.”

/While there isn’t a perfect picture of what it means to depict someone suffering from mental health issues, Justin’s depiction of depression and bipolarism has to be one of the realest depictions of what it means to suffer from them that I’ve seen in film in a while.

/Not only did I see his highs and lows, but I felt them. I could feel the happiness, I could feel the transitions, and I could feel the struggles he went through to try and get a grasp on his system to combat what was going on. If this role doesn’t show you how great of an actor Justice Smith is, then I don’t know what role will./

So Justice. If there is any chance you are watching this video at all, I just want to let you know I see you. And if I see you, then you can be sure that OTHER queer black folk see you, both young and old.

They see your talent, they see your pride, they see your resolve, they see your growth

And more importantly, they see that they too can live their best life, all because you’re not afraid to publicly live yours.

I am so happy to say that I share a community with you. And I can’t wait for us to be excellent together one day.

So with that being said Readers, your homework assignment for the day: Write in the comment section below, which of Justice Smith’s roles are YOUR favorite

Or if you feel like sharing with the rest of the class, which of the movies I talked about in this video you want to see me elaborate more on in the future, whether it was a quick mention or a timely amount of dedication.

Whichever you decide to answer, I’d love to know your thoughts.