Plot: Moderately successful criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller operates around Los Angeles County out of a Lincoln Town Car driven by a former client working off his legal fees (hence the title). While most clients are drug dealers and gangsters, the story focuses on an unusually important case of wealthy Los Angeles realtor Louis Roulet accused of assault and attempted murder. At first, he appears to be innocent and set up by the female “victim.”
However, Roulet’s lies and many surprising revelations changes Mickey’s original case theory, making him reconsider the situation of Jesus Menendez, a former client serving time in San Quentin State Prison after pleading guilty to a similar and mysteriously related crime.
Impressions: I caught The Lincoln Lawyer last night. It’s your typical drama, but the cast carries it I think. Matthew McConaughhey (whom I will refer to as MM from here on out, because I can’t be bothered spelling that last name anymore than once) is charismatic in the film. Good casting I think and a decent and solid supporting cast. Marissa Tomei, William H Macy, Ryan Phillippe, a nice surprise from Lord Nikon from Hackers as MM’s driver. There were a couple other TV notable actors, but it was just enough to round out solid performances. I’m not normally a Michael Pena fan, I don’t know why but there is something awkward about him. I endured him in The Shooter, recently saw him in Battle: LA, but I really really liked his performance in The Lincoln Lawyer, it caught me by surprise. So yes, good casting I think. If I had to complain it would’ve been Micheala Conlin’s casting as a similar role to which she plays on the TV show, Bones. It just felt too easy. Maybe the fact that I recognized her too, just threw me off and out of the realm of the setting for the Lincoln Lawyer. This is extremely nitpicking though, maybe it’s justified, maybe it’s not.
As I said it is your typical drama and it ran fairly long at two hours. There was a moment where I couldn’t believe the film wasn’t over yet, the pacing and progression was ok, but in some ways I think I just wanted to solve the case and know what happens right away. It also felt at one point I could’ve fast forwarded a few scenes and figured out what had happened with a couple lines of dialogue and that was it. This is kind of the problem with book to film adaptations, but I’ll get to more of that in a bit.
What I appreciated was the turning point came early, so there was no reliance on a twist to make the storyline this shock and awe. It was just a standard but solid film. Standard as in the usual plot devices, but solid as it’s told well enough that makes it watchable and enjoyable. The characters are what make the movie though and this isn’t a film I would normally catch in the theatre at all. I don’t recommend going to the theatre to watch it, but do watch it. The movie is based on a novel by Michael Connelly, which to my surprise there is a whole franchise of books that could be made into films. We’re talking like Jack Ryan deep.
I think it’s its own way, it’s both good and bad this is an adaptation. Good in the sense that there should be some literal intrigue with the storyline itself and character development, it’s based on subject matter that has been proven. Why not put it to screen? Bad in the sense, is my continued complaint of where is the originality in Hollywood? It gets tiring watching a film based on books. Maybe that’s just me. It tells me in some ways what to expect and assume I can expect. As such, where in the book a resolution will be far more meticulous, in a film, it’ll come about it’s usual cliche way to fit within the allotted viewing time of the film. You watch enough films and you can figure out who the killer is basically.
The only prior knowledge I had going into the movie was reading the description to know what I was walking into. MM is a lawyer who works out of the back of his Lincoln driving from courthouse to courthouse. The Lincoln literally is his office on the go and I thought that was an interesting concept. From there the brief description is MM is generally a low-profile lawyer who finds himself in a high-profile case (enter Ryan Phillippe) who’s accused of murder, and he is the son of a rich realtor.
As days continue to go by, trailers are more and more ruining films. You can pick scenes which are in effect the end of the movie and for some goddamn reason whoever pieces trailers together, think it’s awesome to show a climatic scene or end scene in the trailer. So it was nice watching this movie, not knowing much about it at all.
Today before I wrote this up, I did spend a greater deal looking into Connelly’s works more so, and found the later entries of “the Lincoln Lawyer’s” continued adventures to be more intriguing. Whether these get adopted to film, who knows. I would imagine Hollywood would jump on these providing this movie does well enough.
