Hotshot lawyer Mickey Haller (Matthew McConaughey) finds his amoral practice upended when he becomes suspicious that his latest client, Louis Ross Roulet (Ryan Philippe) is guilty of assaulting a sex worker.
As Haller continues his investigation, it becomes clear that this offence is merely the latest in a pattern - a trail of crimes that leads back to one of Heller’s old cases.
Complicating Haller’s dilemma, Roulet makes a series of moves that show he is willing to destroy Haller and his family to keep himself out of jail.
I used to find courtroom thrillers a bit dull when I was growing up. Back in the nineties, these movies were all the rage. Nowadays, I find myself gravitating toward movie genres that have disappeared. The over abundance of blockbusters has made me more hungry for genres that do not exist as movies. Based on a novel by Michael Connelly, I dodged The Lincoln Lawyer on its original release in 2011. It came out just before the hype of Matthew McConaughey’s comeback.
He is on good form as the title character - his easy-going charm works for the character, and he does a good job of shedding that charm as the film progresses.
Everything about the movie is solid - the cast are good; the direction is un-showy; the script unfolds the mystery at a good clip.
Ryan Philippe is a reticent performer who seems to work best as a good-looking shit. He is well-cast here, and adds a mocking jock-like bluntness that makes him even more unlikeable.
The rest of the cast are solid gold. Marisa Tomei plays Heller’s ex-wife, William H. Macy plays Heller’s investigator, Josh Lucas plays the prosecutor and Bryan Cranston plays a veteran detective who distrusts the Lincoln Lawyer.
The one downside to having a cast this stacked is that they all feel too big for the roles they are playing. William H Macy is in this movie for only about ten minutes. It just feels weird.
If I have problems, they have to do with the climax. The movie’s suspense is most effective midway through the movie.
However, as the trial gets going, the filmmakers start to lose control. There are a couple of points during the third act where the tension drained away. The viewer is denied certain information about what Mickey Haller’s plans are, we are introduced to a character who has an offscreen relationship with our protagonist that we are expected to invest in and the police investigation that has been established as a looming threat over Mickey Haller takes too much of a backseat to the trial..
Those issues aside, I do credit the movie for feeling almost completely self-contained. We do getteases of a wider universe, and elements of the Lincoln Lawyer’s past, but it feels like world-building rather than set up for a franchise.
It is a pity - I would not mind another case or two with Haller and his friends/rivals.
Released at the dawn of the Marvel Age, before Hollywood became obsessed with serialised IP, The Lincoln Lawyer feels more unique, which is weird and depressing, considering how ubiquitous the genre of courtroom thrillers used to be.
A thoroughly solid and entertaining thriller, The Lincoln Lawyer is worth checking out.
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