DR.

RAM MAHOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

2016-2017

SUBJECT: ENGLISH

PROJECT ON:

MOVIE REVIEW

SUBMITTED BY: UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF:

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Declaration
I hereby declare that the project work entitled “Movie Review” submitted to the Dr. Ram
Manohar Lohiya National Law University, Lucknow is a record of an original work done by
me under the guidance of Dr. Alka Singh, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Law, Dr. Ram
Manohar Lohiya National Law University
and this project work is submitted in the partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award
of the degree of B.A. LLB. (hons).

The results embodied in this thesis have not been submitted to any other University or Institute
for the award of any degree or diploma.

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Table of Contents
Declaration ................................................................................................................................. 2

Acknowledgement ..................................................................................................................... 4

Movie Review: The Lincoln Lawyer ......................................................................................... 5

Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 5

Statement of the Problem ........................................................................................................... 6

Aim ............................................................................................................................................ 6

Research Methodology .............................................................................................................. 6

Review ....................................................................................................................................... 7

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Acknowledgement
I would like to express my gratitude towards all those whose help and constant support the
project would not have reached its current facet. Foremost I would like to thank Dr. Alka Singh
for her kind guidance and for quenching my queries on many doubts and technicalities which
I came up during the making of this project. I would take advantage of this situation to thank
the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, Dr. Gurdip Singh, esteemed Dean (Academics) Prof. Dr. C.M.
Jariwala and Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National University for providing me with such an
enriching opportunity to work and research on this topic.

This project would not have seen the light of the day without the constant direction and
guidance of my parents and guardians to whom I owe a lot. I would also like to use this
opportunity to thank my brother in helping me out with the nitty-gritty of formatting.

I would also like to thank all of my friends and seniors who aided me along the way. I must
also extend my gratitude to the library and library personnel who provided me with research
material and good books to work upon and the distinguished authors, jurists and journals for
providing in the public domain such invaluable information.

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Movie Review: The Lincoln Lawyer
Introduction
The Lincoln Lawyer is a 2011 American legal thriller film adapted from the novel of the same
name by Michael Connelly, starring Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller , Ryan Phillippe
as Louis Ross Roulet , William H. Macy as Frank Levin, Bryan Cranston as Detective
Lankford and Marisa Tomei as Margaret McPherson. The film is directed by Brad Furman,
with a screenplay written by John Romano.

The story is adapted from the first of several novels featuring lawyer Mickey Haller, who works
out of a chauffeur-driven Lincoln Town Car rather than an office. Haller is hired by a wealthy
Los Angeles businesswoman to defend her son, who is accused of assault. Details of the crime
bring up uncomfortable parallels with a former case, and Haller discovers the two cases are
intertwined.

Mickey Haller has spent all his professional life afraid that he wouldn't recognize innocence if
it stood right in front of him. But what he should have been on the watch for was evil.

Haller is a Lincoln Lawyer, a criminal defense attorney who operates out of the backseat of his
Lincoln Town Car, traveling between the far-flung courthouses of Los Angeles to defend
clients of every kind. Bikers, con artists, drunk drivers, drug dealers - they're all on Mickey
Haller's client list. For him, the law is rarely about guilt or innocence - it's about negotiation
and manipulation. Sometimes it's even about justice.

A Beverly Hills playboy arrested for attacking a woman he picked up in a bar chooses Haller
to defend him, and Mickey has his first high-paying client in years. It is a defense attorney's
dream, what they call a franchise case. And as the evidence stacks up, Haller comes to believe
this may be the easiest case of his career.

Then someone close to him is murdered and Haller discovers that his search for innocence has
brought him face-to-face with evil as pure as a flame. To escape without being burned, he must
deploy every tactic, feint, and instinct in his arsenal - this time to save his own life.

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Statement of the Problem
The movie takes a hard look at the human havoc wrought by institutional incompetence and
corruption; it examines the ways in which professionals abuse those whom they serve; and it
puts forth the value of idealism in a world tainted by cynicism.

Aim
The aim was to show how a scum bag lawyer working with degenerates finds his moral center
in the midst of all the killing and lying that is going on. That is ultimately what drives him to
do the right thing. It is nice to see that he does want to make things right and helps to get the
innocent out of jail.

Research Methodology
The research methodology is purely analytical. The facts and information already available
have been analysed to make a critical evaluation.

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Review
Lawyer Mick Haller (McConaughey), who conducts business from the back of his Lincoln
town car, takes on a dangerous high-profile case and starts to suspect his rich kid client
(Philippe) is not as innocent as he claims.

In this slick and smooth adaptation of Michael Connelly’s bestseller, ­McConaughey is in

An old-fashioned courtroom -thriller with a dash of action-drama on the side, it’s a well-cast
mystery movie (it also stars William H Macy and Josh Lucas) that keeps things turning and
twisting quite nicely. After breezing through uninspired rom-coms over the past few years it is
nice to see McC In the midst of a deluge of high-concept, multigenre, motion-capture movies
-- in 3-D! -- comes "The Lincoln Lawyer," a low-concept, single-genre film with live actors
whose performances add the depth.

That's refreshing -- so much so that it's tempting to call "The Lincoln Lawyer" a masterpiece.
It's really just a solid courtroom drama, but these days moviegoers should take what they can
get.
Matthew McConaughey plays the title role, Mick Haller, a high-minded lawyer who defends
lowlifes from the back of a shiny Continental. Given his client list of bikers and junkies, Haller
is surprised when a Beverly Hills rich kid named Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe, not exactly
stretching) retains him to beat an assault charge. The case turns out to be less than
straightforward -- aren't they always? -- and it triggers bad memories of an old client (Michael
Peña) whose fate haunts Haller still.

Even if the plot were spoiled here, "The Lincoln Lawyer" would be worth seeing.
McConaughey wears his roguish role as if it were bespoke; it's a treat watching his Haller
slither through backroom deals and elevator-ride negotiations. The terrific supporting cast
includes Marisa Tomei as the (mostly) ex-wife and William H. Macy as a grizzled but razor-
sharp private investigator.

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Directed by Brad Furman and written by John Romano (from the novel by former crime
reporter Michael Connelly), "The Lincoln Lawyer" brims with authentic details, zippy dialogue
and colorful performances from even the smallest players. Things get a bit silly at the end --
don't they always? -- but it's hard to stay mad when McConaughey is flashing that who-loves-
you smile.onaughey in a proper role giving a smart performance.

Storyline
What happened — did Matthew McConaughey roll out of bed one morning and decide that,
after smiling through one too many schlocky movies, playing the pretty boy opposite Sandra-
Kate-Jennifer, he wanted to do something decent? Not great, mind you, just solid and
satisfying, a movie that asked more of him than rock-hard abs and bleachy-white teeth, one
with a touch of grit, a story to chew over and maybe even a beautiful woman who looks real,
something like his latest, “The Lincoln Lawyer.”

The woman is Marisa Tomei, one of the few higher-profile American actresses in her age group
(she was born in 1964, five years before Mr. McConaughey) who’s actually allowed to act her
age, who conveys intelligence and sexiness, and suggests a life that’s been lived and without a
face frozen by filler and fear. In “The Lincoln Lawyer,” a thriller adroitly adapted from the
Michael Connelly book of the same title — directed by Brad Furman and written by John
Romano — Ms. Tomei plays a character and not just the love interest. She isn’t the star, of
course, but without her and the other exceptionally well-cast supporting players, Mr.
McConaughey would have a tougher time making you believe that he was to the sleaze born.

But, oh, look at him go — no, cut through the waters — slicing through the crowds at this and
that Los Angeles-area courthouse, a shark in gray suit and loafers. As Mick Haller (Mickey in
the books), Mr. McConaughey keeps his focus tight — Mr. Furman making sure his camera
does the same — doling out empty smiles to the guys with the badges and going straight for
the clients whose innocence matters less than their wads of cash. Mick (the hard, short syllable
suits him) works out of the back seat of his chauffeured Lincoln Town Car, an itinerant office,
good for the rootless. It’s a portable refuge, as much a hideaway as an expression of the man
who owns it: sleek, hard, fast and shut off from the world sprawling outside it.

Mr. Furman gives “The Lincoln Lawyer” the unpretty look it deserves, turning down the
Southern California light so he can throw in some shadows. Save for a golf course where the

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moneyed hit balls oceanside and a high-ticket office with the usual mausoleum marble, the
locations are often homey, sometimes downright homely, textured rather than slicked up. Mick
has a killer view from his barely lived-in house in the hills, but he and the movie scarcely seem
to notice. Mr. Furman, who made a no-profile feature debut in 2008 with “The Take,” even
offers up another look at downtown Los Angeles, that overexposed movie set, peering behind
its towers to where palm trees sway next to tangles of freeway.

The story, and there’s a lot of it, nicely condensed from Mr. Connelly’s page-turner best seller,
largely turns on a case that looks like a slam dunk or, as one of Mick’s bail bondsmen, Val
(John Leguizamo), insists, a jackpot. A man (Ryan Phillippe) did or did not beat up a woman,
and his Beverly Hills grizzly mama (Frances Fisher) has the right get-out-of-jail card: a fat
bank account. The client, Louis Roulet, insists on his innocence, and Mick takes the bait and
the money (the same thing). Complications ensue. Mick works the case and chases leads,
helped by an investigator (William H. Macy) and dogged by cops with grudges (Bryan
Cranston and Michael Paré). Everything looks pretty clear-cut until it doesn’t.

Mr. Connelly, a crime reporter turned writer, spun Mick off his author’s popular series about a
Los Angeles police detective by the name of Hieronymous Bosch, Harry for short. Though
related to dodgy cinematic lawyers like the antiheroes from films like “The Verdict,” Mick
doesn’t feel as if he were being readied for his big redemption. He has a likable ex-wife (Ms.
Tomei, as a prosecutor), a young daughter who loves him and even friends. (They all seem to
be on the payroll.) But Mr. Connelly doesn’t try to make us love the character, and neither does
Mr. Furman. He exploits Mr. McConaughey’s facile charm, pulling us into Mick’s
gravitational field, where he first counts the cash and then tries to do good. The cash is the easy
part.

There are modest pleasures in a familiar story told differently enough that you’re happy to keep
guessing and watching, despite this one’s five-ending pileup of a finish. Mr. Connelly was
inspired by Raymond Chandler, and it shows in Mick’s jaded rap, and it’s likely that Mr.
Furman watched Steven Soderbergh’s “Out of Sight.” “The Lincoln Lawyer” doesn’t approach
those heights. But these are first-rate influences, and there’s much to like in how those
inspirations have been absorbed, including the wrung-out life that Mr. McConaughey summons
up and the sight of Michael Peña, as one of Mick’s old clients, going from freaked-out innocent
to stone-cold lifer in a few short scenes. This is an agreeably nasty tale about a corrupt lawyer
working all the angles, including, it’s safe to assume, a possible movie franchise.

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