A Time to Kill

Rating:
Summary: "I want you to stay so you should go"
Review: I found this DVD very confusing. Not the film. Just the DVD. For starters, it's 143 minutes long, and it doesn't say anywhere on the DVD case that it's half the film on one side of the disc, and half the film on the other. Guess who started watching the second half of the film without realising?! You would have thought the fact it starts abruptly and there's no credit should have warned me! (Does it sound even more stupid that I understood the second half of the film like it was a stand alone film?!)

There's an all star cast in this, and the main reason I bought this was because of Sandra Bullock, and then put off watching it for ages. I saw The Firm years ago (Tom Cruise phase), but it was garbage. So I wasn't looking forward to another John Grisham novel turned into a movie. What this movie really lacks is any cute guys. I'm sorry but Matthew McConaughey with all the curly hair does nothing for me! Also included in the cast are: Samuel L. Jackson (in a mesmerising role: "Yes, they deserve to die, and I hope they burn in Hell!!!"), Kevin Spacey, Oliver Platt (doing some serious backcombing), Brenda Fricker, Donald Sutherland, Kiefer Sutherland (imagine an extension of his role in Phone Booth, except worse - a real nasty piece of work), and Ashley Judd. Strangely enough, most of these actors are severely underused: Sandra's top billing, but is underbilled, and does little more than look pretty and turn up for no reason. Ashley Judd is sent away so her hubby & Sandra can get it on. Kevin Spacey yells "Objection your honour!" a lot and not much else, in a case that he had no chance of winning anyway.

The sterotypical Southern town is well overdone. There's no mention of the fact that they could have air conditioning, instead of looking all hot & sweaty most of the time. Most of the time, you get the feeling the entire film is trying to be racist, ignorant and exploitive. I'm sure Joel Schumacher could have thought of something more imaginative than throwing the Ku Klux Klan in for a couple of scenes.

I doubt I would recommend this movie to anyone. It's watchable, but that's about it, and is heavily focussed on racism and segregation. If you get easily offended by racists, then this is not for you. But Matthew McConaughey's end speech was by far his best moment ever on screen and definitely the best moment of the whole film.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Stunning Film
Review: I had the good fortune to see A Time to Kill in the theater when it came out in 1996. Like many other women who saw the film, I instantly fell deeply in love with Matthew McConaughy. His performance is so heartfelt and breathtaking, he should have gotten an Oscar nod. He did get noticed, though. People had a cover saying, "Where did this guy come from?" Equally high=caliber is Samuel L. Jackson's performance as a father whose little girl has been brutally raped by two rednecks.

The rest of the cast is very good. Sandra Bullock is, as always, a breath of fresh air. She and McConaughy have a lot of chemistry onscreen. Ashley Judd is good as McConaughy's spoiled, sorority queen wife.

The story is not for the fainthearted. A Time to Kill is not a light-hearted movie. It is serious, rich, and deeply moving. I challenge you not to cry. Race relations and personal convictions are put to the test when Jackson murders his daughter's accused attackers before they even go to trial. A scene where the Ku Klux Klan clash with black residents immobilized me with it's intensity.

One of the best movies I have ever seen.

Rating:
Summary: Grisham At His Best
Review: A Time to Kill is my favorite Grisham book, and the movie follows suit. The book, which was the first one published but did not become popular until The Firm becase a success, seems to be the most "grounded" with a "real" feel to it unlike some of the other ones which tend to stretch credibility a bit more (but are fun to read anyway.)