THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 28, 1996 TAG: 9607270038
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 77 lines
THE ADAPTATION of John Grisham's first novel moves with the lightning-fast pace of an action film, but is so deftly balanced, and the ensemble cast is so good, that it forces the audience to do more than merely watch.
``A Time to Kill'' is that rare summer movie that gives you something to debate on the way home.
Yet, it falls short of being a great film because it throws in too many histrionics and plot twists. Instead of a high-class tragic drama, it is a slick and manipulative melodrama.
But an entertaining and important melodrama. In the hands of a more serious director than Joel Schumacher (``Batman Forever,'' Grisham's ``The Client''), though, it could have been more important. He was a costume and set designer before moving behind the camera; here, everyone is drenched in sweat under yellowish lights - his idea of a Tennessee Williams-style Southern summer.
Set in present-day Canton, Miss., this courtroom thriller surrounds the trial of a black man (played with in-depth complexity by Samuel L. Jackson) who guns down two surly racists who raped his 10-year-old daughter. The shooting was seen by half the town and the case is being prosecuted by a slick, ambitious lawyer played by the always-sharp Kevin Spacey.
Carl Lee (Jackson) is thought to have little chance in what we are told is Klan country. He is defended, though, by a determined young white lawyer, played with great ease and likability by Matthew McConaughey.
There are at least a half dozen fine performances here, not the least of which is McConaughey's. For once, the hoopla about a projected new star is justified. He is a natural.
It is Jackson's performance, though, that is the standout. In what will surely be an Oscar-nominated role, he suggests the balance between realism and anger that exists in Lee. He regrets his deed, yet he sees it as the only thing he could have done.
While the movie is clearly on Lee's side, to its credit, it creates enough doubt to make us wonder about the ending.
The script, though, doesn't really play fair in that it openly supports vigilante violence, a dilemma that should have been faced by us without the movie's support. Lee never gave justice a chance to fail; instead, he and the audience are seduced into believing that perhaps there is a proper ``time to kill.'' The ambiguity of the ``justifiable homicide'' defense is the film's strength and weakness.
Hopefully, marching Klansman and unspeakable racial violence will seem sensationalized in 1996. A bit less sensation would have lifted this to the realm of a truly great movie. It does not deserve to be compared, as is has in some circles, to the classic 1962 ``To Kill a Mockingbird.''
What might have been stock characters are given rounded characterizations by the cast. Sandra Bullock, in a role smaller than her top-billing would suggest, is the Boston law student who tempts the married young lawyer. Ashley Judd seems natural, even in the thankless role of the wife who flees when she finds crosses burning on the front lawn. Brenda Fricker is the ``good'' woman who doesn't shy away from being involved. Donald Sutherland is the boozy law expert; his son, Kiefer, is a despicable bigot. Patrick McGoohan is the no-nonsense judge.
``A Time to Kill' is slick moviemaking at its most compelling. It is destined to be one of the more talked-about movies of the year.
There are too many moments, though, when, despite the fever-pitch tension, we are let off the hook by being reminded that ``it's just a movie.'' ILLUSTRATION: WARNER BROS. photo
Matthew McConaughey questions Samuel L. Jackson, whose character is
accused of murdering two racist thugs in the movie version of John
Grisham's first novel, ``A Time to Kill.''
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``A Time to Kill''
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson,
Kevin Spacey, Brenda Fricker, Donald Sutherland, Kiefer Sutherland,
Ashley Judd
Director: Joel Schumacher
MPAA rating: R (graphic language and violence)
Mal's rating: three stars by CNB