Law Abiding Citizen Review

Posted by Joseph Lee on 10.20.2009

You can't fight fate, and you can't deny this movie's charm.




Starring:

*Jamie Foxx as Nick Rice
*Gerard Butler as Clyde Shelton
*Colm Meaney as Detective Dunnigan
*Bruce McGill as Jonas Cantrell
*Leslie Bibb as Sarah Lowell


Story: After Clyde Shelton's wife and daughter are brutally murdered, the killer is given a deal while his partner (who essentially didn't do anything but steal) gets the death penalty. Ten years later the father decides to seek revenge against the killers, the lawyer who got the deal made, the justice system and the entire city.

Trivia: Butler and his production company developed the film. For the two years of planning, Butler planned to play Nick Rice. At the last minute he decided that it would interesting to take on the role of Clyde. Since Jamie Foxx was already signed on to play Clyde, he asked if he would mind switching roles. Foxx loved his performance in 300 and thought that as a viewer he would love seeing Gerard "beating people and blowing stuff up".

I'm sure like a good portion of the movie-going public, I really didn't know anything about Gerard Butler before 300 hit the screens (unless you actually watched that awful musical version of The Phantom of the Opera). He was essentially pegged to be the next great action star. Of course immediately following that adrenaline-fueled action film he went on to star in movies like The Ugly Truth and PS, I Love You. But in 2009 it seems he is back to the action genre as he has been in both Gamer and this recent opus, Law Abiding Citizen.

In this film Butler plays Clyde Shelton, a man who used to work for the CIA as a "brain". He's shown living comfortably with his family when two men come in to rob the place. His wife and daughter are murdered and he is left for dead. One of the men is given the death penalty while his partner, the perpetrator of the crimes, is given a small sentence for cooperating. Ten years later both killers are finished off quickly and Shelton begins to play a cat-and-mouse game with Nick Rice, the man who made the deal with the murderer of Shelton's family. In doing this he begins taking out anyone associated with his case, declaring war on what he feels is a broken justice system, even though he is in prison.

The first thing you should know about Law Abiding Citizen is that the plot is completely preposterous. I don't believe for one second that this is even remotely possible. There are numerous plot twists and contrived set pieces and play out all with the intention of making the lead character a sort of puppet master, pulling the strings on various traps he has set within the ten years he has had to plan. In a lot of ways this film is like the Saw series or Joker's master plan in The Dark Knight in that the sheer amount of planning and preparation for everything involved (including any setbacks or changes) is impossible.

Even though I knew this as I was watching, I didn't care. I just progressively got more and more into the story and I was being drawn in by the sheer unbelievability of it. Every time that part of Shelton's plan would go into effect I was on the edge of my seat wondering who it would strike next. Most of all, I was wondering how he was pulling all of this off from a prison cell. Was it all set up prior to his conviction? Does he have an accomplice? If so, who is it? For some reason this movie was one that I watched in spite of it's glaring flaws and found myself completely enjoying it.

I think part of this reason is the show-stealing performance of Gerard Butler. He plays a convincing, devious sociopath who is willing to do anything to complete his missions. In his mind, none of the people he is killing or causing damage to are innocent, because they failed him as part of the justice system. Yes, he's crazy, but he delivers such a great performance that I couldn't help but root for him a little bit. He's plays a great anti-hero, like a smarter version of The Punisher. I just found him very entertaining and I think if it were anyone else (like say, Jamie Foxx, as was the original plan), it wouldn't have worked as well.

Speaking of Foxx, he's very comfortable in the role of the hero. He doesn't get very much in the way of character development but he manages to do fine with what the script does give him. The supporting cast holds up their ends of the bargain as well, including Colm Meaney (it's great to see him getting work) and Leslie Bibb. No one plays down to the material, although I imagine it would have been very easy to and make this more tongue-in-cheek. I think a campy tone would have hurt it, in this case.

Law Abiding Citizen has some glaring flaws but due to the twists and turns and a great lead performance from Gerard Butler, I enjoyed it. Instead of dismissing it, I recommend giving it a chance. You may find yourself enjoying it. If not, it's clearly not for everyone.

The 411: Law Abiding Citizen is a preposterous movie with a number of highly improbable plot devices and an incredibly contrived story. In spite of that (or maybe because of it), I had a lot of fun watching this. Gerard Butler plays a great intelligent psychopath and it was fun guessing what would happen next and whether or not Butler's character could get away with it. This film will definitely end up being a guilty pleasure for me.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]