The Lincoln Lawyer (2011)
A lawyer conducts business from the back of his Lincoln town car while representing a high-profile client in Beverly Hills.
The Lincoln Lawyer entertained me entirely, and I give it 8/10 stars. It kept me on edge throughout the majority of the movie. The director, Brad Furman, did a great job of dropping subtle hints throughout the movie that swallowed you into the story. The thrilling story line follows Mick Haller (Matthew McConaughey), a defense attorney for the rugged low class criminals of California, who rolls up to court in the back of a classic Lincoln Town Car. In the story, Mick receives an unusual and suspicious client, Louis Roulet (Ryan Philippe). Roulet, a rich upper class real estate agent, has been accused of deadly assault and sexual battery, and claims he is completely innocent. Long story short, Mick rides his Lincoln through a twisted and thrilling case that forces him to rethink his past to save himself, his family, and his past clients.
The acting was much better than I expected. I’m a big fan of McConaughey, but lets face it, he’s had some weak films. However, as the tension and excitement build in this movie, Haller’s morals and values are tested to the breaking point, and McConaughey plays it perfectly. From intense court scenes, to desperation to do what’s right, and to drunken rage, McConaughey does it all. Philippe, who gives Roulet a dirty, suspicious, and high-class criminal personality that torments Mick, only compliments McConaughey’s acting. The acting as a whole is solid and creates an intense thriller.
It’s hard to find flaws in the movie, because so many factors help make this thriller movie great including: the solid acting, fitting music, the suspenseful and thrilling storyline, and the legit and intense courtroom scenes. However, I can think of two things that could be better. The flow in the beginning of the story, while introducing characters, is a little rough and sketchy. Also, the ending is good and fits the story completely, but it just doesn’t “wow” me. Regardless, both of these are hardly reason enough to not see the movie. It’s. An. Awesome. Movie. I really recommend it if you like thrillers, B.A. cars, and intense court scenes.
A great cast helps out the tired script and courtroom drama. The suspense is good but not constant enough.
Reaffirms my being a fan of Matthew McConaughey. Another superb performance! It made for a great Saturday Night at the Movies for sure. I enjoy movies that keep you thinking right to the end. We've seen some real duds lately so it was refreshing to leave the theatre thinking...it's about time I see a good movie!!!!!!!
A Time to Kill is arguably one of the best modern day courtroom dramas that's ever been put on screen. With an unparalleled cast led by the gorgeous and ever charming Matthew McConaughey it told a fiery story that begged the question, 'could a black man on trial for the murder of two white men who had rapped his 12 year old daughter receive a fair trial in the deep south in the early 1990's?' If you are one of the very few people left out there who hasn't seen this epic film, put it on your Netflix queue immediately!
Those of you who have seen it know that The Lincoln Lawyer has a lot to live up to. Just by virtue of the fact that this is the first time since A Time to Kill that McConaughey has returned to playing a present day lawyer (Amistad doesn't count) means that this latest film will be mercilessly compared to its predecessor; and sadly I'll also be doing the same.
The Lincoln Lawyer tells the story of a hot shot defense attorney Mick Haller, (Matthew McConaughey) who practices law out of his Lincoln Town Car as a career making case falls in his lap. A super wealthy and somewhat cocky young man (Ryan Phillippe) is accused of brutally beating a prostitute whom he had met casually at a bar one evening. While he swears his innocence she screams his guilt and Mick as per usual doesn't seem to care much who is telling the truth. He's made a career out of defending people who were probably all guilty of one thing or another so he's stopped asking which is which.
His beautiful x-wife (Marisa Tomei) is the prosecutor initially assigned to the case and she, unlike the father of her child, still believes in the justice system and genuinely cares about the small things like guilt or innocence.
Unlike A Time to Kill which had very clearly defined characters and situations that fell perfectly in either the 'good' or 'evil' column, The Lincoln Lawyer wisely avoids that to make a more compelling, less predictable story. While that is definitely the right move for any movie being made today it has the unfortunate side effect of having a far less powerful emotional punch than A Time to Kill had as a result. While we do spend a good amount of the film wondering who is telling the truth and who isn't, the power behind those answers just isn't there. A man wrongly convicted or a guilty man going free in life has a great deal of weight but in this movie it seems far less urgent.
The pacing of the film is also intentionally different than most big budget court room films, which, again is the right move but sadly also has a negative effect on the flow of the movie as a whole as it leaves the audience wondering why it seems to continue on for as long as it does.
McConaughey plays Haller with a far darker edge to him than Jake Brigance had back in 1996. He's not the young idealistic save-the-world lawyer we remember; he's colder, more seasoned and a far more complicated man than I think audiences are expecting. Don't get me wrong he's still the man everyone wants to marry when he's up on that screen, but it makes total sense to us that he's divorced and surrounded by people that can only loosely be referred to as 'friends' in this film.
Marisa Tomei can do no wrong at this point, even in a role that doesn't offer her a ton of screen time to fully develop her character; she does a lot with what she's given. The comparison to Sandra Bullock in ATK is harder to make because the differences in the two characters are so overwhelming that it's not even worth going there.
The weak link here performance wise unfortunately is Ryan Phillippe. I won't give away the ending of course but I believe he was going for an Ed Norton Primal Fear type of thing where the audience really has no idea what's happening inside of his mind until the very end. Sadly, Phillippe isn't able to create and live in that grey area the way that Norton did and the movie definitely suffers as a result. I knew almost immediately what I thought about his character and was eventually proven right. (But again, I won't say what that was).
I feel like the creative team behind this movie made almost all of the right choices going into production on this movie. Everything from the script to the casting and even down to the editing were all correctly made, but for one reason or another most of those 'right' decisions left the movie just feeling wrong. It was certainly different from past movies with similar themes but it wasn't better than those films; in fact it pales in comparison.
It's not a bad movie by any means, but I wouldn't be rushing out to see it in the theaters. This can wait for Netflix folks.
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This movie was AMAZING as was Matthew McConaughey's role. The best movie he has ever done. Ryan Phillippee did a great job too. I highly recommend this movie to everyone. I will watch it again and again. Also notable mentions to Marissa Tomei & William H. Macy. A great team!!!!!
