Review of The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) by Dawdlingpoet — 27 Nov 2021

I found this to be quite a slow moving film, as far as the plot is concerned. Its rather stylised, with most scenes havng a yellow colour tint to it - most scenes being set in a courthouse, especially towards the end. Its more of a crime thriller with hints of mystery in it maybe, a slow burning one but one none the less, if that makes any sense?. The movie includes multiple scenes of him being chauffered around the city in a Lincoln branded car (presumably hence the name of the movie), one which has the personalised licence plate 'NTGUILTY', so clearly Mick isn't too doubtful or conflicted conscience wise regarding who he represents, or hadn't been beforehand certainly. Also there are multiple scenes involving a Hells Angels group of bearded men in large motorcycles who seem to be mates with said lawyer.

There are numerous characters present throughout, who have their own angle, interests to defend etc. it did feel quite confusing trying to make sense of the case and get a feel for who may be concealing what about the true events behind the case. The motives of different people aren't made entirely clear until quite late on and there are some surprising moments, if you can stick with it to the end but I certainly wouldn't say its the most enthralling watch I've, um, watched.

I found myself with a bit of a wry smile as I realised there's a somewhat ironic theme or question posed by it - that being which can you trust more, so called prison snitches or accused criminals on one hand or lawyers who obviously represent the accused. Its well known that in America (and likely elsewhere, generally), lawyers aren't especially trusted or necessarily well regarded and of course there are other such movies that include this rather fundamental doubt or question but this one I thought was quite interesting in terms of the angle it takes, in as much as its not all about the accused and the trial but moreso about the lawyer, his different clients and the way he backed himself up, how he viewed the system and things. I didn't find Mick to be an entirely likeable character funnily enough, he comes across as being all about who you know and maintaining a reputation no matter what - if anything, I'd say I found the movie to be somewhat 'clinical', which put me off, although the plot has one or two interesting twists, especially towards the end where there were some rather shocking twists, which may well be less expected than earlier ones. I thought it was pretty watchable but as I say it was a little cinical or, to use another term, perhaps slightly bland in substance in parts when going over some details. I felt that the first half of the movie was a bit clinical, as I say, although the pace does build up somewhat and as I say, there were more sudden, surprising plot twists present towards the end, which made it more interesting. I'm not sure what else I can say about it really - to me it was ok, I thought that Matthew McConaughey did pretty well in portraying the rather arrogant and self assured lawyer, he came across well on screen I suppose, seeming quite convincing, the real issue to me was that I didn't particularly like the main characters and I suppose in a sense I felt rather indifferent to what the outcome would be. I suppose I also had hoped it might be more of a crime drama/thriller but it was less of that and more of a crime mystery, as I say. Before I end this section, I'll add that cast wise, this title features numerous highly regarded actors including Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy and Bryan Cranston (of Breaking Bad fame) and its running time is approximately an hour and 55 minutes long, which I'd say nowadays seems to be about the average running time of a movie, particularly one with a slightly complicated story like this.

Overall, personally no I wouldn't recommend it. I thought it was alright - there are some good plot twists and the acting is decent enough but the script was a bit too bleak perhaps for my personal liking. I found it to be a bit too slow pace wise for certainly the first half of the movie and the characters, while numerous, were maybe a bit too shady? I'm not sure but I can certainly say that it didn't really 'grab me' and it definitely isn't a movie I'm likely to think about or want to re-watch again. Maybe I have something against sytlised movies - I do wonder sometimes but thats just me. Its watchable but not as good as other movies, I'd say. I can't really think of anything much else to add to be honest but I couldn't specifically recommend it, although other people may find following the plot and seeing the various plot twists be played out, more enjoyable and find it more intriguing and enthralling than I did - to me it was distinctly average.