Review of The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) by Shiira — 03 Apr 2011

Jesus Martinez(Michael Pena) is locked away in the San Quentin State Prison, serving a life sentence for the brutal slaying of Donna Renteria, a prostitute who was stabbed over fifty times. His lawyer, "The Lincoln Lawyer", Mick Haller(Matthew McConaughey), cut a deal with the city prosecutor that spared Martinez's life, so instead of being administered the death penalty by lethal injection, the prisoner can request for a parole hearing in fifteen years.

The man in charge of the Renteria case, Detective Kurlen(Michael Pare), believes that Martinez should have been punished corporally. In an elevator, he asks Mickey, "How do you sleep at night?" The question is an especially pointed one, because both men are on the same side in their deduction of presumed guilt, but only the detective cares that Martinez did it.

For the wrong reasons, the lawyer is able to sleep at night. Mickey doesn't believe in Martinez's innocence, not even after his client pleas tearfully that his case be brought to trial. Why should Mickey fight tooth and nail for a Latino with no money? Mickey could care less if his client stabbed that woman.

The case holds nothing for him. It will neither make him rich nor famous. The lawyer can sleep at night because he saved a GUILTY man. He beat the system; he got paid. Those are his core values, the same values which hold true for many men and women in the legal profession.

"The Lincoln Lawyer" shows how the system is broken. It neatly intertwines the fates of the haves and the have-nots in a legal system that works a lot better for the former. The Lincoln Lawyer, a servant of the court, as shady as they come, undergoes an awakening after he realizes that his blue blood client Louis Roulet(Ryan Phillipe), charged with the attempted murder of a prostitute, was responsible for the killing that sent Martinez to prison as a wrongly convicted felon.

Kurlen's words come back to haunt him. "How do you sleep at night?" Mickey doesn't believe in his new client's innocence either, and yet he proceeds with the case anyway, since the lawyer is being well-compensated by Louis's mother, Mary Windsor(Frances Fischer), a woman who doesn't care about innocence or guilt either.

Along the way, his motivation changes, realizing that he has to prove Roulet innocent to get Martinez off. Initially acquitted of the assault charges, the verdict that rules in Louis' favor shows why our prison system is filled with minorities.

That's because the poor and disadvantaged lack the financial resources for proper legal representation. Meanwhile guys like Louis Roulet nearly gets away with murder.