The Lincoln Lawyer is a Legal Thriller starring Matthew McConaughey and Ryan Phillippe based on the book of the same name by Michael Connelly. The story revolves around an L.A. defence lawyer named Mickey Haller (Matthew McConaughey) who takes a lucrative case where Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe) the son of a wealthy real estate tycoon is accused of brutally attacking a prostitute.
At first Haller believes that Roulet like all of his other clients is guilty. (Very minor spoilers ahead) However after speaking to Mr. Roulet and looking at the case file he changes his mind and sets out to prove him innocent. Haller than discovers that the file he obtained is a fake and is missing key facts that Roulet failed to divulge to him. This causes Haller to lose trust in his client and search for the truth himself. The case ends up being much more than he had previously assumed as he comes to discover some of Roulet’s secrets and must dive deeper in order to discover what is really going on. (Spoilers over)The little twists and turns that occur through the film as Haller tries to figure out the case and the predicament that it has put him in is really intriguing and one of the reasons that I really enjoyed this movie. You’re always thinking about what will happen next, what can Haller do, what options does he have and how will he go about setting things right. The film does a great job of building tension throughout and while I did like the gritty, low budget direction that the film took, there were times when it seemed a little disjointed. For instance there is a scene where Haller in a fit of extreme emotion confronts his boss and it seemed like the confrontation was still going strong but it instantly cuts to Haller quietly sitting in a bar drinking, which left me wondering what the heck just happened.
The performances delivered by the cast on the other hand are never disjointed and the characters they portray are all really well grounded and relatable. Matthew McConaughey is terrific in the leading role as Mickey Haller who is a seemingly big shot defence attorney who has it all, but really is divorced and only gets his daughter on weekends. This goes along way to making him feel real and relatable unlke a lot of the main characters we see in films. McConaughey who I never really thought of as a great actor (I knew he had some talent but never to what extent) does a great job here with his performance, struggling with the decisions he has to make and actions he has to go through with and their possible consequences. Ryan Phillippe gave a really solid performance as well which also took me by surprise since I don’t believe I’ve ever seen one of his films before. The rest of the cast gives decent performances throughout but aren’t really focused on very much. That being said a number of them are quite recognizable. Haller’s ex-wife is played by Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy plays Haller’s friend and colleague, John Leguizamo plays Haller’s boss, Bryan Cranston plays a detective and there are many more recognizable faces in the movie as well.
The sort of gritty direction along with the believable characters, great performances and solid writing all keep you invested in this film the whole way through. The Lincoln Lawyer is probably the best legal thriller I’ve seen, it’s even better than Fracture starring Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins back in 2007, for any of you out there that remember that film. By the way if you don’t know that film you should probably check it out. But I digress, the bottom line is The Lincoln Lawyer is definitely worth seeing, I’m not sure if it’s something you need to own because after seeing it once a lot of the tension that this film so expertly builds goes away but at the very least rent it because you will not be disappointed.
Score: 3/5
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