The first Jolly LLB was excellent. Raw, natural, courtroom drama with real energy. The second had its heart in the right place. The third? Two jollies do not always make a right.
Subhash Kapoor writes and directs again, completing a trilogy I am not sure he ever imagined when he wrote the original. The success of the first, and the even bigger success of the second with Akshay Kumar, got us here. And where we end up is a film that is a shadow of what the franchise used to be.
The writing is the central problem. The first two films had layers, character arcs that actually developed, courtroom sequences that surprised you. Jolly LLB 3 has a very linear graph. Very little character growth for either of the Jollies. The story moves from A to B without the texture that made the originals memorable. It is not a disaster, the performances are fine and the franchise goodwill carries it some distance. But this feels like a conclusion made because the franchise could be milked, not because there was a story that needed to be told.
If you loved the first two, lower your expectations before going in. If you have not seen them, start there instead.
