A Time to Kill (1996)
Directed by Joel Schumacher
A young lawyer defends a black man accused of murdering two white men who raped his 10-year-old daughter, sparking a rebirth of the KKK.
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What critics compared A Time to Kill to
In "The Lincoln Lawyer," a courtroom procedural based on the best-selling novel by Michael Connelly, he returns to the same genre that initially put him on the Hollywood A-list in 1996's riveting John Grisham adaptation "A Time to Kill."
Matthew McConaughey has joined the Atticus Finch law firm -- in both A Time to Kill (1996) and The Lincoln Lawyer, his character's conscience prevails.
It's understandable if, for those unfamiliar with author Michael Connelly, the title The Lincoln Lawyer followed by the words "Matthew McConaughey" induce bone-chilling shudders accompanied by visuals of the actor in his typical courtroom attire - dazed and bespectacled, as seen in Amistad and A Time To Kill ... shudder - giving a fiery, bongo- accompanied speech in the forgotten case of Mary Todd Lincoln v. the Ford Theatre's Refund Department.
All twang and confidence, Mr. Just Keep Livin' hits the very notes that made him so durn winning in his indie debut, "Dazed and Confused," and his big-screen breakthrough, "A Time to Kill."
That’s a problem: Mr. Naked Bongo Man hasn’t truly worked his thespic muscles since at least “We Are Marshall’’ (2006) and arguably as far back as “A Time to Kill’’ (1996).
If you took Jake Brigance from “A Time To Kill” and combined him with agent Rick Peck from “Tropic Thunder” you would get Mick Haller.
As someone who misses the heyday of 90s’ courtroom dramas and devours John Grisham adaptations whether good or bad (“A Time To Kill” remains an all time favorite) watching “The Trial of the Chicago 7” was therapeutic.
Pakula had better luck with his 1990 adaptation of a Scott Turow novel, Presumed Innocent, which seemed more an indictment of the previous decade's facility with morality than these later attempts at grasping the fascination we developed as a culture in 1994 for the O.J. Simpson trial.
This is how we get movies in which white lawyers defend innocent black men (To Kill a Mockingbird, A Time to Kill).
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The pumped-up brokers are actors like Vin Diesel (an escaped mass-murderer in this week's "Pitch Black" ), Nicky Katt (one of the rapists in "A Time To Kill" ) and Scott Caan (as the son of James Cann, tough guy roles are in his DNA).
While Vin Diesel ("Pitch Black," "Saving Private Ryan"), Nicky Katt ("The Limey," "A Time to Kill") and Ben Affleck ("Reindeer Games," "Good Will Hunting") do decent jobs in their various roles playing the firm's "bad guys," none stands out.
One of the film's minor flaws may be in its portrayal of the villains embodied by Sam Rockwell ("Safe Men," "Lawn Dogs") and Doug Hutchison ("A Time to Kill," a recurring character on TV's "The X- Files").
Carrying this role is Doug Hutchison, who specializes in portraying people we love to hate -- past roles include a redneck rapist in "A Time To Kill" and a liver-eating mutant on "The X-Files."
Director Joel Schumacher ("A Time to Kill," "Batman & Robin") and screenwriter Larry Cohen do a fairly good job of covering their tracks, even if they depend on numerous implausibilities to do so.
And, as the caller, Schumacher favorite Sutherland (who's worked with the director in "Lost Boys," "Flatliners" and "A Time to Kill") revels in the chance to build a sinister character largely on the strength of his insinuating, compelling voice.
For the voice of his sniper, he calls on Kiefer Sutherland , who also starred in Schumacher's " The Lost Boys " (1987), " Flatliners " (1990) and "A Time to Kill" (1996) and here takes the mostly (but not quite entirely) invisible role as a very useful favor to Schumacher--because if the voice doesn't work, neither does the movie.