10 Henchman Movie Roles Made Epic By Casting

Not all henchmen are playing on the wrong team, but they're often underused. Brad Furman's The Lincoln Lawyer seems to exist as a movie out of time. It would have been a blockbuster if it were made in the heyday of John Grisham adaptations, where Mathew McConaughey reigned supreme. But by 2011, the actor had already re-invented himself, further embracing his offscreen stoner persona. Seeing him back in the shoes of a lawyer, even one whose scruples were less laudable than those from his Grisham days, was discombobulating.

It was far from a flop, but it's not a particularly memorable film. Which is a bit of a shame, because The Lincoln lawyer is a brisk, serviceable courtroom picture that just happens to contain one of the best performances to come out of a nothing part.

William H. Macy's hard drinking private investigator Frank Levin works for McConaughey, and he's every bit the cliche he sounds like. The role could best be likened to Donald Sutherland's in A Time to Kill, a wise, drunk elder character who's seen everything and is more than a little jaded. They serve the same purpose as a henchman, doing the busywork. But few people play world-weary drunks as well as Macy, with his sallow, tired eyes saying far more than words.

Unfortunately, Levin is also a character clearly written to die, with his death being telegraphed early in the film as a key motivator for McConaghey. In a better world, he'd had a spin-off.