Forget (if you can) Matthew McConaughey in the years of his greatest physical splendor, while from the seats of his Lincoln he solves court cases of various thickness, until he stumbles upon the one that puts his and his loved ones’ lives at risk.
The 2011 film was based on the first novel by Michael Connelly (author of many excellent noirs and creator of Bosch) dedicated to the lawyer Mickey Haller, nonconformist, casual, with his own personal taste for justice, ex-husband still in love, father of a teenage daughter. In the new TV series on Netflix, the second novel of the series is adapted, The List (from 2008, Italian edition in 2011), in which many passages will still remember the film.
We are in the always fascinating Los Angeles, the lawyer Mickey Haller has given up the helm for a year and a half, after an accident that had serious consequences, including a painstakingly fought addiction. He has stopped exercising and drags his days to recover, without great results. But the death of a colleague forces him to return to the saddle.
In fact, a criminal lawyer is killed, who leaves the office and all his cases to an astonished Mickey. Who sees the opportunity to return to work, also because among the cases there is one of great appeal: the usual tycoon inventor of technologies with global success, is accused of having killed his wife and her lover, after having surprised them together .
In the meantime, he has to call old friend Cisco, his trusted detective from the good old days, back to work and hire a chauffeur to get him around town without wasting time driving, handling his cases from his vast back seat instead, and hires Izzy, a girl he got out of trouble. Obviously, also finding out who killed the colleague has its own importance, also to avoid ending up in the same way. In the meantime, he is forced to keep up with the loose change cases that he has also received as an inheritance, darting through the various courts of the district (even if he no longer does so on his vintage car, which is rarely seen, but on a more comfortable SUV, always Lincoln from much less chic).
These are all the cases that clog up the courts every day, all concern people who are unable to defend themselves against often spurious or even false accusations, victims of policemen who have raged because the system is structured like this, strong with the weak and weak with the strong. , with the well-known problem of plea bargaining. In fact, this is the recommended practice to cut short and, even if innocent, not to go to trial with an official lawyer and perhaps be sentenced to greater sentences in retaliation.
Mickey also has to manage the two ex-wives. The first, who is the mother of their teenage daughter and is still very much loved by Mickey, is the deputy attorney of state (Neve Campbell, in the film with McConaughey was Marisa Tomei), who is pursuing a case of exploitation of illegal immigrants. The other (actress Becki Newton) runs all the bureaucratic part of the office and also acts as a motivator (Mickey is a subject to many moral doubts and scruples). Both are very protective of him and have never stopped loving him very much.
Christopher Gorham, who we remember as a brilliant blind computer scientist bordering on mysticism in the series Covert Affairs, starring Piper Perabo, is the billionaire under accusation. In the other roles you see many familiar faces. So many narrative strands therefore that are unraveled with skill. To write we find David E. Kelley, well-known author of endless successful series, flanked by Ted Humphrey (showrunner, executive producer and screenwriter).
The “yellow” plot is valid, not that Connelly was doubted. Unfortunately, although human and less star, therefore basically more credible, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, chosen as the protagonist, in every moment makes you dream that in his place there is Matthew McConaughey. If you overcome this problem, however, you can follow the series quietly, even the character is very subdued compared to the original, more reflective, less superstar, one who has his own principles and will tell his daughter that “in life you have to be clear about what you believe in, what you want and what you have to do, but things don’t always coincide ”.
There is no doubt that Garcia-Rulfo is doing well, but we would have preferred one if not really more “cool” one a little more charismatic. The fact that, perhaps out of political correctness, he is Hispanic (the actor is of Mexican descent) does not count on our judgment, he is a somewhat anonymous actor, seen without noticing too much in Sweet Girl, From Dusk Till Dawn and Goliath. Here he looks just like the lawyer next door, even though he too has a house in the Hollywood Hills with great views like Bosch with whom he shares a passion for jazz. In the novel there is a crossover, there it was Bosch to investigate the death of the colleague, we will see if he will appear in the promised second season.
As for the series, honestly commercial without pretensions of Golden Globe, it is one of the usual legal drama, a genre very appreciated by the public, both cinema and television, based on the novel of one who knows his job very well (as we said, as dubitare by Michael Connelly), written by a professional like David E. Kelley, who alternates field investigations and court sessions, which are intertwined with the lives of the various characters.
All in a very attractive setting, as can be Los Angeles with its coast of Santa Monica, Venice and Marina del Rey. Personally, we think it is a mistake not to keep the original title in Italian as well, Defense Attorney is just too generic.
Given the amount of crime stories set in those parts, we do not doubt that the reality in that area can really be an inexhaustible source for fiction. As they say in the series, “tilt the world to one side and anything that has no roots will roll to LA.”
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