Law & Order (TV Series) License to Kill (2005) User Reviews

A difficult case that begins in Ulster County

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 9 May 2020]

A horrific car accident that kills the driver as he plowed into a cafe killing the driver begins in Ulster County. There said driver shot several hunters and kidnapped the son of one of them. Michael Psniewski made a 911 call hat stoped when the cell phone signal dies.

Psniewski pursues him all the way to Manhattan and in fact causes the crash.

Hero or villain? When the teenage hostage dies, Sam Waterston decides to prosecute Psniewski for vehicular manslaughter. It's not popular in many quarters andneither is he.

It's like the Bernhard Goetz case in real life. Lots of opiniions, what's your's?

Heartland

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 28 July 2022]

One of the biggest appeals of 'Law and Order' has been the topics it addresses and issues that come with the topics addressed. Also with how they are explored, the execution more often than not (if more in the early seasons rather than the later ones) was hardly sugar coated or trivialised and was often pull no punches in quality. "License to Kill" is no exception and conceptually it is one of the most interesting episodes of Season 15, because of the character of the perpetrator.

"License to Kill" is another very good episode, if not quite a great one. As far as Season 15 goes, it's very close to being one of the better entries. And definitely for me one of the better ones of the season's second half, which was a good deal less consistent than the first. A 'Law and Order' high point it might not be, but "License to Kill" for a post-Briscoe episode where the show felt very different really doesn't come off too shabbily, not at all.

Do agree that the perpetrator's motivations could have been made a lot clearer, this aspect was left too vague to the point where it felt like no reasons were given.

It is a slight slow starter as well perhaps.

So much works though. Photography and such as usual are fully professional, the slickness still remaining. The music is used sparingly and is haunting and non-overwrought when it is used, and it's mainly used when a crucial revelation or plot development is revealed. The direction has nice and at its best (such as towards and at the end) thrilling tension while keeping things steady, without going too far the other way. The script is intelligent and contains very little fat.

The story is very engrossing on the whole, with it being riveting once it comes to trial. The whole debate and dilemma of whether the perpetrator was hero or vigilante did fascinate and made for some nice tension and intrigue, if not completely coming off because of the too unclear motivations. The acting is very good all round, particularly from Sam Waterston and intense Michael Pniewski.

Overall, very good. 8/10.

We all need heroes, Jack

[Mrpalli77 · 7/10 · 18 December 2017]

A SUV crashed into a restaurant during an ordinary day. The driver died right away, while one passenger and some customers were wounded. Witnesses outside the diner stated the car was chased and then ran off the road by another car, but they were not able to identify properly the make and model. The victim had actually stolen the car, so detectives tried to trace down what really happened that morning: in a wood upstate, four hunters had been killed by the victim who left the crime scene together with a hostage (Jake M. Smith), throwing shortly after the murder weapon (a semi-automatic rifle) in a dumpster placed just outside a gas station. A man noticed everything and he wanted to play a hero. When the teenager died at the hospital for kidney failure, McCoy was the only one who wanted to prosecute the "hero", against other people's advice:;the point is: is he a hero or a vigilante?

I like pretty much the plot, but I find it too unrealistic: there wasn't any reasons for what the killer had done apart from a little dispute on hunting issues. Then I think people shouldn't take the law into their own hands.

What is criminal law for?

[the6thPredator · 7/10 · 16 March 2024]

License to Kill is one of those episodes that scratches that itch only L&O can. The episode is about an interesting ethical question, relevant to criminal law, in which multiple laws and views clash.

A man witnesses a murder and kidnapping and attempts to apprehend the culprit by following him in his car. The good samaritan inadvertently -- though perhaps negligently -- causes the gunman to crash his car into a diner, injuring several people and killing the driver. McCoy decides to fervently prosecute the man who caused the crash, who he perceives to be a fame-seeking vigilante, when the kidnapping victim, a teenage boy, dies due to injuries sustained in the crash.

The episode is an interesting look at the idea of a 'citizen's arrest' and its limits: what is a citizen allowed to do when he or she witnesses a crime and thinks they can help? The crux of the episode really is about mens rea, the state of mind of the guy who tried to stop the gunman from fleeing and kidnapping a teenage boy. McCoy clearly thinks the man was more concerned with his own heroism than the safety of the public, but I don't think he made his case. While the man tried to call 911 and report the crime, according to McCoy, this was not enough. He should have aborted the chase and sought help instead.

Not only do I disagree with McCoy in his immediate jump to "vigilantism", since the man witnessed a crime being perpetrated and was therefore legally allowed to detain him, I also don't buy his belief that the man was simply out for heroism. He tried to inform the authorities which didn't work and there is no way to deduce from the facts of the case that the man ignored opportunities to inform the police. It might well be true, but there is no way to read the man's thoughts, so he may well have thought his course of action was the best and only way to rescue the kidnapped boy. The fact that it all ended in tragedy is unfortunate, but no different to when the police inadvertently harms a member of the public during the chase or apprehension of a criminal. The only crime our good samaritan was guilty of is leaving the scene of an accident.

So definitely an interesting episode, plenty of food for thought.