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Killer on the Streets
| Leisure by Arnold LeibrandtWhile a young man gets life in prison for a crime he did not commit
The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) is a crime drama/thriller based on the novel of the same name by Michael Connelly.The film follows criminal defence attorney Mickey Haller, who uses unorthodox and sometimes questionable methods to get his clients off.
Mickey does not have many friends aside from his driver and best friend private investigator Frank Levin (Academy Award nominee William H Macy), mainly due to the lack of respect Mickey gets from people because of the fact that he takes pride in putting his sometimes-guilty clients back on the streets.
This even led to his divorce from public prosecutor Maggie McPherson (Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei).
Mickey then lands the case of a lifetime when he is chosen to defend real-estate mogul Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe) who has been accused of brutally assaulting and attempting to rape a prostitute, however, Roulet claims to be innocent.
At first it seems to be an open and shut case with all the evidence pointing to Roulet’s innocence.
Strangely enough this case is almost identical to one Mickey had a few years ago for a man named Martinez who claimed he was innocent, but Mickey talked him into doing fifteen years in prison to avoid the death penalty.
Because of this Mickey gets his investigator Levin to do some snooping on Roulet and when Levin shows up dead in his apartment (shot with Mickey’s own gun) Mickey begins to grow extremely suspicious of his new client, but is unable to talk to the police because he is defending the suspect in question.
Now Mickey has to get his client (who he thinks is guilty) off the hook while being framed for the murder of his best friend and with the knowledge that he gave a man fifteen years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. But don’t underestimate Mickey; he still has some of those questionable and unorthodox methods up his sleeve.
The movie is actually really good, although I must mention that it is not action-packed and most of it takes place in a courtroom, but all the twists and turns in the plot make for a very good intellectual movie. Think Fracture (2007) meets Reservation Road (2007) – which is saying a lot if you like suspenseful films.
The only downfalls in the movie are that it’s about twenty minutes too long and contains some rather unimpressive acting.
The film sees Mathew McConaughey at its helm but he lacks the acting talent to really bring out the diversity of his character, and then seeing pretty boy Ryan Philippe (the emotional guy from Cruel Intentions) as a psychotic bad guy just doesn’t gel at all.
Then, as if to rub salt in the wounds of all people who actually appreciate good acting, we see great veteran actors such as William H Macy, Marisa Tomei and John Leguizamo with such minor roles that if you were to add up their total screen time it would probably amount to around twenty minutes.
However, if you’re able to put these two issues aside it is simply put a very smart movie, and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes their intelligence tested when watching a film.
And I suppose you have to give McConaughey credit for trying to do something remotely respectable in his life other than his marriage to former Brazilian super model Camilla Elves.
Starring: Mathew McConaughey, Ryan Philippe, William H Macy
Directed By: Brad Furman
Rating: 4 out of 5
Source: www.bizpremises.co.za
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