When the first set of reviews came out for "The Lincoln Lawyer," many critics compared it to a solid John Grisham thriller. Now, Grisham in his early days was pretty good. He’d think of a fun concept and then move the plot forward in a quick, pleasant pace. Michael Connelly, on whose book "The Lincoln Lawyer" is based, is not like Grisham.
In addition to J.K. Rowling and Stieg Larsson, Connelly may be as beloved critically as he is by the bestseller chart. Each of his books I’ve read have incredible prose, and he goes through the mystery with expertise and intelligence. He doesn’t waste time on fluffy language; he goes right into what matters. "The Lincoln Lawyer" was a book that launched a new character and has become the perfect gateway into his canon.
After seeing Clint Eastwood bastardize "Blood Work" into a lousy thriller, nobody had much hope for Matthew McConaughey to do much better with this one, yet it’s pretty good. The screenplay remains surprisingly faithful to the book with its puzzle-ish plotting, and the filmmakers fit everything together while balancing a large number of secondary characters.
McConaughey plays Mick Heller, a lawyer who operates primarily out of his Lincoln. He drives around defending lowlife criminals who are probably guilty for all of their crimes and has enough friends to get him a big client — a playboy (Ryan Phillippe) accused of beating a prostitute. The plot is not necessarily about whether or not he did it. Most courtroom movies fall into that trap of making it only A or B. Instead, "The Lincoln Lawyer" does a good job setting traps for its characters to the point where the trial is only part of the journey.
The rest of the cast — which includes Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy, (a good) John Leguizamo, Michael Peña and Bryan Cranston — is quite impressive. Nobody gets an “Oscar moment,” but each one brings casual expertise to the roles.
The only time the movie falters is when the filmmaker doesn’t have enough faith in the story. The cinematography is often quite lousy, as the film is cluttered with too many close-ups, handheld shots or the despised 360-degree shots. The music choices don’t exact fit the movie, either, but they never distract entirely from a very solid story.
There is a sequel to the book, "The Brass Verdict," which won the prestigious Anthony Award. (It happened to have been given in Indianapolis a few years ago. And this critic may have been in charge of giving it out…) With the pleasant surprise of how strong McConaughey was in the role, I would love to see that book get made, especially if Harry Bosch (another Connelly character) finally gets to be cast.
The Blu-ray has plenty of solid bonus features including a simple making-of, a cool ride-along with Connelly and an interview between McConaughey and Connelly. There are also, of course, deleted scenes, which continue to be very rarely satisfying. The Blu-ray also has a digital copy and a DVD copy bare of bonus features.
Film: 4 Yaps Extras: 4 Yaps