Quickcard Review Law Abiding Citizen
Directed by: F. Gary Gray Cast: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Colm Meaney, Leslie Bibb Running Time: 1 hr. 48 mins. Rating: R Release Date: October 16, 2009
PLOT: A man (Butler) decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain by the district attorney (Foxx) sets his family's killers free.
WHO'S IT FOR? Either people are lazy or movies are really hard to make. There are moments of ugly violence in this film, and supposedly funny violence (when the phone rings, you'll know what I mean). Simply rent Silence of the Lambs and Falling Down, then mash them together and maybe you'll have what this movie was trying to achieve. Maybe.
OVERALL
"I am a law abiding citizen ... I'm just a regular guy." REALLY? Really? Let's examine the facts OK? And yes, some plot spoilers will be discussed here so turn away now if you want to go in fresh to this mess of a movie. First, Clyde's (Butler) family is killed. I guess it's a random break-in and it's awful. So awful he passes out. His whole world is crushed. We feel sympathy for the man. Nick Rice (Foxx) is a career-minded prosecutor who is obsessed with his win percentage. So we don't like him ... but wait. It's Foxx. We're trained to love everything Jamie Foxx does. Conundrum.
After ten years, and Clyde getting much better hair, some awful things start happening. And there is a ton of pleasure involved in the killings. It's clear Clyde doesn't have remorse for the carnage he creates, so are we supposed to join in the violence and enjoy? Or fear the evil? The movie never decides. Ever. We're stuck with moments of Nick saying, "is this what your daughter would want?" Which is annoying since Nick is annoying, constantly choosing his career over his family. But this movie's message couldn't possibly be, spend time with your family or you're just like a serial killer. It's also so ridiculously obvious that Clyde wants attention instead of his actual end goal of "bringing down the whole system."
Based on his background, which comes out of nowhere for this nice family man, he could have gotten every piece of revenge wanted. But instead he has fun in the destruction, wanting to be in the spotlight of it all. So that means he's not honoring his wife and child at all. So that makes us not like him. Especially when he kills innocent state employees. Odd additions like the mayor shutting down the city to protect everyone don't even make sense because it's obvious Clyde is only after the government, which can be a good movie plot when you're bringing down the system. But when you're just killing, you aren't really showing a warped sense of right.
One quick fix for the movie would have been to simply start with Clyde in jail. Clyde is always evil (or dead inside) based on his occupation. So it's not like he trained in carnage for a decade after this family's deaths.
Be Cool. I give this advice to F. Gary Gray. He should know it well since he directed the Get Shorty sequel Be Cool. You have to either be cool with your killings (like Taken) and have revenge be the only thing on your anti-hero's mind. Or, your other choice is to have the evil be so awful, the man must die, and then we need a hero (like Foxx could or should have been) to save us all. And no, I won't say "Arrest this movie!" but I do think it will be serving life in the $3.99 DVD bin at Best Buy.
FINAL SCORE: 2/10