Accused of ... actually if there is one thing that is obvious is what someone is accused of here ... not just anyone. But while this is fast paced and has a lot of things happening from the get go, I will not go into too much of the story. But boy does this movie have an all star cast or what? The answer is yes, in case you are wondering.

And while some may feel a bit .. let's say weird about the way justice is being served here (pun intended),the movie is gripping from start to finish. It also is not something the faint of hearted should watch! Especially the beginning (and first inciting incident) really packs a punch .. and it is something that unfortunately still exist in our world! I don't think certain things will go away ... at least not as long as I'm alive (racism being one of them).

10-year-old Mississippi girl Tonya Hailey is viciously raped by rednecks James Louis Willard and Billy Ray Cobb. They are taken into custody by Sheriff Ozzie Walls (Charles S. Dutton),but the girl's father Carl Lee Hailey (Samuel L. Jackson) takes matters into his own hands killing both men and wounding a police officer. Jake Tyler Brigance (Matthew McConaughey) knows Carl and takes on his defense. Kevin Spacey plays D.A. Rufus Buckley, and Donald Sutherland is Jake's drunken partner Lucien Wilbanks. Freddie Lee Cobb (Kiefer Sutherland) leads a local rebirth of the KKK. Law student Ellen Roark (Sandra Bullock) offers to help Jake.

It's a John Grisham novel directed by Joel Schumacher. It's a lot of drama with very little tension. None of these characters especially Carl is worth our sympathies. Also there are a lot of ridiculous things like Carl visiting the injured cop in the hospital. It would never happen like that. It would help out Carl's character if the cop didn't get in the line of fire. It would clean up the morality mess and line up the ethical question better. It would also help to have Carl exhibit some mental problems so the insanity defense has some purchase.

The story is hitting all the big stereotypes, and plays every race card. It's overwrought when it's unnecessary. There is no cross unburnt. There is no hood unworn. The NAACP is corrupt. And with so many big Hollywood actors, a lot of this feels fake. This is not a subtle movie. Then there is the ending. I cannot abide by it no matter how it's argued. But even if I agree, the closing argument by Jake was just hitting all the wrong notes.

A Time to Kill works better if you regard it as a camp courtroom thriller by director Joel Schumacher. There is no way you can take it seriously. After all it has London born, Canadian raised Kiefer Sutherland as a southern redneck.

Samuel L Jackson plays Carl Lee Hailey, the father of a young girl who was brutally raped by two rednecks. He bursts into the courthouse and shot them dead and also injured the deputy sheriff.

Matthew McConaughey is Jake Brigance, a young rookie lawyer who takes on Hailey's case. His own wife is uneasy about the case, he faces threats from the Ku Klux Klan. Even some in the black community do not want him to represent Hailey.

The trouble is, Hailey admits what he did. After all he killed the two men in front of a crowd. The prosecutor (Kevin Spacey) wants the death penalty and has picked an all white jury. The all white jury regularly and surreptitiously hold a vote whether they find Hailey guilty or not so they can wrap it up quickly.

I guess the only defence Brigance has is temporary insanity but the movie never clearly spells it out.

The film consists of six Oscar winners in the cast. It is an adaptation of John Grisham's first novel. The gist of the story is not far removed from Death Wish. No wonder they went down the route of a corny and contrived courtroom drama.