A Time to Kill

Based on John Grisham’s first novel, A Time to Kill follows Mississippi lawyer Jake Brigance (Matthew McConaughey) as he agrees to defend a man (Samuel L. Jackson’s Carl Lee Hailey) accused of murdering the men who raped his young daughter. Filmmaker Joel Schumacher, working from Akiva Goldsman’s screenplay, delivers a slow-moving yet mostly engrossing drama that benefits substantially from its stellar performances, with McConaughey’s magnetic, star-making turn as the affable protagonist certainly matched by an appealingly eclectic supporting cast that includes Sandra Bullock, Kiefer Sutherland, and Kevin Spacey. The compulsively watchable atmosphere is perpetuated, as well, by a narrative that’s been crammed with tense, electrifying sequences, including an almost iconic scene detailing the emotional cross-examination of Jackson’s Carl Lee by Spacey’s ambitious Rufus Buckley, and there’s little doubt, too, that the picture builds towards a spellbinding finale that, in addition to ensuring the picture ends on a positive, memorable note, boasts some of the best acting of McConaughey’s career. It is, as such, easy enough to overlook the decidedly bloated bent of A Time to Kill‘s midsection, with the 149 minute running time certainly not doing the film any favors, as Schumacher ultimately (and effectively) offers up a top-notch adaptation that fares better than one might’ve anticipated.

*** out of ****