Most critics find A Time to Kill watchable, and a fair number find it gripping: an absorbing, polished Grisham adaptation that holds attention across its length. The praise clusters almost entirely around Samuel L. Jackson, whose taut, anguished performance is singled out by reviewers on both sides of the verdict as the film’s strongest element. Kevin Spacey and Matthew McConaughey also draw notice, McConaughey chiefly for his closing speech, and several reviews credit the film with treating its charged subject forcefully.
The reservations are about method rather than craft. Several critics call the film manipulative, pushing hard for the audience’s feelings at the expense of subtlety, and a few go further, objecting to its simplified treatment of race and its apparent endorsement of vigilantism. The spread is wide: Radio Times is warmly positive, while Time Out dismisses the film outright for cultural myopia and The AV Club finds its politics troubling even while admiring the cast.