The Lincoln Lawyer

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Myself

A good ol' fashioned courtroom drama thriller. The kind they seemed to make a lot in the early 90s but then they all turned into television shows.

This one starts out with some playful character building stuff, there are a lot of good supporting characters and little side cases we see snippets of and they lay the ground work for the main focus of the story the charges laid against Ryan Phillippe's character. The main plot takes it's time being set up and I wasn't really that interested until about halfway through when a few twists and turns made me sit up and start paying attention and really getting into what Matthew McConaughey was doing. His character is faced with a big moral dilemma and a bit of a Catch 22. And from there the best part of the film is watching him figure out how to get out of this mess.

That's not to say the first half is boring, but with the all the great acting and and little shifts in character to enjoy in the second half I was surprised how engaging Brad Furman managed to keep the proceedings. Not that the whole film takes place in the court room, but there is a significant chunk in the latter half followed by a little finale piece that felt a little sensational but nevertheless did add a little bang to finish off the proceedings.

Great cast and a good plot kept me engaged with this one. Hopefully more courtroom dramas can play out like this one.