A Time to Kill

This film is also a top film, a gem of the genre confirming the rule that the nineties dominated thrillers at the highest possible level. The cast alone is Oscar-worthy: Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, Kevin Spacey, Kiefer Sutherland and Donald Sutherland. Of course the McConaughey vs Spacey duel shines the most, because these two shine like crystal in the courtroom. This is what I call a perfect and audacious acting performance, and during Matthew's final speech I cried for a constant five minutes with everyone involved in the courtroom, I've never seen such an emotionally and intelligently charged speech in my life, and anyone who doesn't shed a tear during it is not human. A perfect film in every way. 100%. (01/17/2015)

That's the beauty of those 90s movies, you get to watch a scene where a lawyer played by Kevin Spacey sinks a witness based on his 30-year-old rape accusation that took place on 9/11. At least there's some joy in this overwrought mess according to hypocrite-in-chief John Grisham. We can only envy the man's ability to calmly fight the death penalty furiously with his left hand and peck out a novel that defends it through enormous hyperbole, sadistic descriptions of crime, and appeals to the racial frictions of the American South with his right. The film treatment then doesn't problematize the novel at all, and on the contrary is almost completely faithful to it, with occasional bursts of Goldsman’s screenwriting flubs (the lawyer protagonist and his righteous fisticuffs, disastrous characterization scenes). McConaughey trying to play himself to death here at least recalls a time when he was a truly insufferable piece of slime. (01/13/2020)

A traditional southern Grisham film based on the 1988 novel of the same name. The film is a riveting courtroom drama with many pressing themes that are conveyed with equal verve in both mediums. Of the performances, Matthew McConaughey towers above all, especially in the final speech. Samuel L. Jackson is also great, but Sandra Bullock is just a poster attraction - her role is relatively small and just completes the all-star team. (05/04/2022)

This time it's best to start from the end. The final and supposedly gripping and authentic speech by Matthew McConaughey left me completely indifferent. It's brutally implausible and it won’t make you transform into a gullible jury member, so unless you want to feel it at all cost, you won't feel anything. The chemistry between the young lawyer and the ambitious student is great and they complement each other well, Kevin Spacey delivers excellent wisecracks and the permanently “sozzled” Donald Sutherland plays a role that is not often seen. And we must not forget the main antagonist, whose revenge was much more believable than those legal entanglements. However, the biggest driving force remains the initial brutal act and the subsequent chaos in the bar. (10/27/2007)

McConaughey was a good actor even when he was young, but he just didn’t want to. Schumacher in good form, a myriad of stars (Jack Bauer as the head of the local branch of the Ku Klux Klan!), who maintain the tension inside the viewer for two and a half hours until the unexpectedly classic end. Grisham came up with a great idea revolving around racial hatred, Goldsman interpreted it wonderfully for the silver screen. A classic about a lawyer that matures with age. (12/24/2014)