7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.8 |
A lawyer conducts business from the back of his Lincoln town car while representing a high-profile client in Beverly Hills.
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei, Ryan Phillippe, William H. Macy, Josh LucasCrime | 100% |
Thriller | 38% |
Psychological thriller | 9% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English, English SDH, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy (as download)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Do attorneys get a bum rap? The profession is routinely ranked near the top of the most unlikable careers out there, and lawyers are routinely thought to be scheming, smarmy folk with few if any morals. You might be forgiven if that’s your initial impression of Mickey Haller (Matthew McConaughey), the titular character in The Lincoln Lawyer, as he slides through a series of patently oily interchanges with everyone from clients to court personnel as the film opens. And yet there seems to be at least the hint of redemptive grace about the character from the get go as well, and that “decent, if flawed” element is what gives this film its emotional edge, even as the plot works every tried and true courtroom scenario from The Jagged Edge to what I can only compare to a “very special episode” of Perry Mason. Haller is without a doubt a wheeler-dealer, but he’s one with at least the glimmer of a conscience, something that is brought to bear when he’s hired to defend a spoiled rich brat (Ryan Philippe) who has been accused of seriously beating and attempting to murder a prostitute. Philippe’s character Louis Roulet insists he’s innocent with such vehemence that Haller actually tends to believe him, despite a career spent defending patently guilty criminals and an overriding fear on the part of Haller that should he ever actually defend an innocent man, he won’t be able to recognize that innocence. The Lincoln Lawyer treads a sort of John Grisham-esque world of courtroom intrigue and shifting alliances (the film is based on a novel by Michael Connelly), and while a number of its plot points are completely predictable and overly contrived, there’s quite a bit to enjoy, especially with regard to McConaughey’s nicely nuanced portrayal, certainly one of the better ones from an actor who has more often than not seemed to be phoning it in in order to pick up a paycheck.
The Lincoln Lawyer is presented on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.35:1. Director Furman utilizes the gritty, grimy, smog strewn environment of Los Angeles to good effect throughout the film, and for the most part this is a very sharp and appealing presentation. The haze which is so endemic to Los Angeles casts some wide shots in a sort of gauzy softness, but the interior work and especially the close-ups reveal really amazing fine detail. Depth of field in the exterior shots is also splendid, offering vistas of miles over the Los Angeles and San Fernando valleys. Colors are sometimes skewed toward the blue end of the spectrum, and a lot of the film is bathed in shadows, but overall the palette is pleasingly robust and very well modulated, and black levels are solid and only rarely crush to even a minor degree. There's some very fine interplay of light and shadow throughout the film, nicely mirroring the duplicitous nature of both Mickey and Louis, and that is captured beautifully on this Blu-ray.
Somewhat surprisingly, The Lincoln Lawyer is granted a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 mix that may strike some as a bit of unnecessary overkill. While the surrounds are typically active throughout the film, including both the many traveling sequences in and around Mickey's iconic Lincoln, as well as the smaller dialogue scenes both in and out of the courtroom, the level of immersion is typically dependent upon relatively innocuous and subtle environmental sounds. The one time everything swings into robust activity is in some of the raucous source cues which rollick through the soundfield in bluesy abandon. Dialogue is crisp and clear and the "recreation" of the attack in question, as well as some gunshots late in the film, provide at least a moment or two of good, solid LFE.
You may remember the famous review when the film version of Bus Stop was released, proclaiming, "Meet Miss Monroe, Actress." Marilyn of course was an icon first and foremost, but that film proved she had an unexpected depth of characterization at her beck and call, given the right material and director. Goodness knows McConaughey is nowhere near being in the same league as Monroe, but The Lincoln Lawyer aptly proves that there's an actual actor behind the pretty boy façade. This is easily McConaughey's finest turn in quite a while, maybe the entire length of his career, and that excellent performance informs the sort of seedy nooks and crannies of Connelly's character and the overall ambience of the film itself. This is certainly no groundbreaking thriller or courtroom drama, and indeed it's more than predictable quite a bit of the time, but the level of performances helps to elevate it and ultimately redeems the film of any passing flaws. Recommended.
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