A Time to Kill, based on the first novel by John Grisham, is a skillfully constructed morality play that pushes all the right buttons and arrives at all the right conclusions (…) I recommend the film. What we have here is an interesting example of the way the movies work. « A Time to Kill » raises a lot of questions, but they don’t occur while you’re watching the film. The acting is so persuasive and the direction is so fluid that the material seems convincing while it’s happening. — Roger Ebert