29 Years Later, Matthew McConaughey’s ‘Lincoln Lawyer’ Predecessor Is a Streaming Sensation
Fans of Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer were in for a treat recently when the movie A Time to Kill debuted on the platform. It rose to instant success, securing a spot on the streamer’s global top 10 charts for several days in a row. The legal thriller originally debuted in 1996 and was headlined by Matthew McConaughey, who, of course, starred in The Lincoln Lawyer movie back in 2011. Based on the popular series of novels by Bosch writer Michael Connelly, the television series has run for three successful seasons so far, and will return for a fourth. But fans of the movie were left hanging because McConaughey never returned for a sequel, and their best alternative right now is A Time to Kill. But the movie isn’t free of controversy, especially around one particular performance.
The movie was directed by Joel Schumacher, who might be best known for making Batman Forever and its franchise-killing sequel, Batman & Robin, but he also directed a couple of legal thrillersaround the same time. While A Time to Kill was released between his two Batman films, the very successful The Client was released just a year prior to Batman Forever. Starring Two-Face himself, Tommy Lee Jones, The Client grossed nearly $120 million worldwide. A Time to Kill, on the other hand, made more than $150 million globally against a reported budget of $40 million. Alongside McConaughey, the film also featured Samuel L. Jackson, Sandra Bullock, and Kevin Spacey.
Matthew McConaughey Recently Starred in the Acclaimed Film ‘The Lost Bus’
Based on a book by John Grisham, as was The Client, the film’s story follows a Black man’s trial for killing his daughter’s rapists. McConaughey played the lawyer Jake Brigance. A Time to Kill opened to mostly positive reviews, although it also earned vocal backlash for its perceived politics. The movie is now sitting at a 66% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “Overlong and superficial, A Time to Kill nonetheless succeeds on the strength of its skillful craftsmanship and top-notch performances.” The audience, however, has always been highly appreciative of the film, awarding it an 85% score on RT. By comparison, McConaughey’s The Lincoln Lawyer adaptation made around $90 million worldwide. The Oscar-winner was most recently seen in Paul Greengrass’ The Lost Bus, which was released on Apple TV and received excellent reviews.
Years after the release of A Time to Kill, Jackson claimed that his performance was sabotaged during the film’s editing, and alleged that he couldn’t have been allowed to run away with all the praise. “The things they took out kept me from getting an Oscar,” he told Vulture, adding, “My first day working on that film, I did a speech in a room with an actor and the whole f***ing set was in tears when I finished. I was like, Okay. I’m on the right page. That s**t is not in the movie! And I know why it’s not. Because it wasn’t my movie, and they weren’t trying to make me a star. That was one of the first times that I saw that s**t happen.” You can watch A Time to Kill at home, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Release Date
July 24, 1996
Runtime
149 minutes
Writers
John Grisham, Akiva Goldsman
