Law Abiding Citizen

Law Abiding Citizen (2009), The Film Department    Cert:18

Dir: F. Gary Gray
Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Colm Meaney

Clyde Shelton (Butler) becomes the target of a horrific crime in which 2 men break into his home, savagely killing his wife and daughter. The killers are caught and Assistant DA Nick Rice (Foxx) is assigned to the case, but is ordered by the DA that he must strike a deal with one of the killers, meaning the other will face the death penalty. Clyde tries his best to stop the deal but Nick agrees and one killer is sentenced to death whilst the other - ironically the man whom actually killed Clyde’s wife and daughter – is given only 10 years. Clyde is an intelligent inventor and so plots, waiting with baited breath until the killer is released. Clyde extracts revenge of the most shocking kind, but it goes further than simple vengeance. Utterly dismayed by the justice system that seen his family’s killer allowed to walk the streets, he himself is arrested to become part of it and uses his incarceration to send a major message to officials. Clyde’s warnings become reality as he picks off, from his prison cell, all those who were involved in his case. It becomes personal as the attacks get closer to Nick, meaning he must stop Clyde getting to his own family before it’s too late.

At times you could be forgiven for thinking it was a horror rather than a thriller, as Gray depicts intensely graphic gun shot wounds and acts of what could only be considered as torture. You are quickly launched into the plot as his family are murdered in the opening moments and so leaves you thinking now what? But this is quickly answered in narrative exploding into a high octane police chases, executions and gore in only the opening moments. Gerard Butler pushes the mean and angry killer eyes but lacks in that edge of insanity to which his action display, making it hard to buy into the idea of the “grieving parents and husband”. Jamie Foxx equally underwhelms as the plot requires a no holds barred cop but is given an “all talk lawyer” style character, with the only display of wit in the closing moments. The film is gripping no doubt but lacks terms of the actors being mediocre in comparison to the plot. The Butler Foxx partnership works as good versus bad, but lacks that level of chemistry that would take the film to the next level.