A Time To Kill
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DVD Review
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Review
Jake Brigance (McConaughey), a talented young Lawyer left with a dead-end practice, finds himself duty bound to defend Carl Lee Hailey (Jackson), a father who takes the law in to his own hands when his young daughter is brutally raped by two redneck drunkards. Killing them with a machine gun and accidentally injuring a policeman in the process, Hailey finds himself fighting the gas chamber in the predominantly white Mississippi. With the help of his drunken disbarred mentor (Sutherland), his divorce lawyer friend (Platt) and a bright young law student (Bullock), he must fight District Attorney Rufus Buckley (Spacey) to the backdrop of mounting racial tension as black support groups clash with the Klan in street riots.
After a brutally disturbing introduction, you are presented with a movie of some promise. An impressive ensemble cast playing a complex story with many levels - questioning our concepts of humanity, justice and religion. Based on the John Grisham best seller (which I haven't read), there is obviously a lot of story to tell. Unfortunately I believe this is it's minus point - there are a number of sub-plots which fail to add value to the movie, and the inclusion of such distracts us from the core story, and reduce the tension. For example, we are presented with vicious scenes of racial violence outside of the courthouse, which are almost forgotten by an annoying, easily resolved sub-plot. When we return to the courthouse the feeling of foreboding is absent, and is the result of some poor directional choices. This does not do credit to some excellent performances. Spacey, Bullock, Jackson and Keifer Sutherland are all impressive, and McConaughey's performance in giving the closing speech is Oscar-rated stuff. But all this gets lost in an attempt to faithfully recreate the book in celluloid, rather than produce a movie that gets the book's messages across in two hours. This leaves the film as a "pretty good, a bit long though", rather than the "absolutely brilliant" that it could, and should have been.
As for the DVD, it's a clear and crisp anamorphic picture, supported by adequate dd5.1 sound. This movie was never going to test the surround sound, but there are some good effects in the courtroom. A trailer and production notes complete the extras.
Definitely a movie to see, if only to wonder what should have been...
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