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Chadwick Boseman, left, portrays Thurgood Marshall defending Joseph Spell, played by Sterling K. Brown in movie “Marshall.”

Chadwick Boseman, left, portrays Thurgood Marshall defending Joseph Spell, played by Sterling K. Brown in movie “Marshall.”

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Chadwick Boseman in ‘Marshall’ is bulletproof

Thurgood Marshall, a titan of 20th century law and a civil rights pioneer, has until now largely eluded Hollywood’s notice. Despite its title, “Marshall,’’ too, is wary of taking on the Supreme Court justice in full, sticking to a minor case from Mr. Marshall’s early career as counsel for the NAACP. That makes, for better and worse, a sometimes slight, sometimes serious courtroom drama, shot through with bright certainty in the coming triumphs for Mr. Marshall and the civil rights movement. It’s a superhero-style origin story: Thurgood, pre- “Brown v. Board of Education,’’ pre-black robe.