The Lincoln Lawyer
Director: Brad Furman
CAST: Mathew McConaughey, Ryan Philippe, Marisa Tomei, William Macy, Josh Lucas, Frances Fisher
“The Lincoln Lawyer” is a movie about a criminal defense attorney, Michael “Mick” Haller (Mathew McConaughey) who has spent most of his career defending petty criminals. He does his business mostly in a chauffeur driven car. He unexpectedly lands the career of his life when he has to represent a wealthy client, Louis Roulette (Ryan Philippe) son of a wealthy woman, Mary Windsor (Frances Fisher,) who is accused of the attempted murder of a prostitute.
As the case progresses, Mick discovers that his client has a plan to beat the system. What initially begins as a direct case with a huge pay turns into a match between two masters of manipulation and a crisis of conscience for Mick who believes Louis is innocent.
As he and his investigator Frank Levin (William Macy) analyse the evidences, it bears similarities to a previous case he handled where his client Martinez (Michael Pena) lands a lifetime sentence despite protesting his innocence.
Mick’s wife and prosecutor, Maggie McPherson (Marisa Tomei) with whom he has a daughter with, has never appreciated his style of defending criminals and he hopes to make a difference with this case.
As the case progress, new events occur that makes Mick begin to suspect Louis as the murderer in his previous case. There are more twists and turn when Levin is shot to death after stumbling on some hard evidence that could free Martinez.
It turned out to be that the murder weapon was a .22 caliber pistol which belonged to Mick’s father. He is now accused of murder and as he comes face to face with evil, he realises that his family and friends are in danger. He sets out to bring his client to justice, if it means using more than his clever machinations.
The movie is an adaptation of the novel “The Lincoln Lawyer” written by Michael Connelly. The plot of the film is thought-provoking with a lot of twists and turns which is more intriguing than most crime stories. It is equally fast paced, entertaining and compelling enough to keep you guessing and glued to the screen. The lineup of the cast for the film also adds credits to the movie. Mathew McConaughey does a wonderful comeback as a lawyer again after the movie “A Time to kill,” in which he acted as a defense lawyer and also depicted his character like a real lawyer. Ryan Philippe also gives a wonderful performance as the accused staying vague and mysterious till the film ends. It also does a good character development and as the movie progresses we get to understand who Mick Haller really is which makes it more realistic.
However, there is so much drama packed into just one film and this barely gives the audience time to understand some characters. Perhaps if the movie was made into a seasonal film, it would be more exciting as it really has more than enough stories to watch for a long time.
The movie has impressive scenes with good scenery, editing and sound mixing. The sound track prioritises dialogue just as it should be from the start to the finish. The movie is indeed an entertaining courtroom drama.
The movie is however rated 17 as there are scenes with extreme violence and strong language.
Filed Under: Movie Review
