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Despite its pretense, “Law Abiding Citizen” is about an average guy if your idea of average is being a super-genius whose intellect is only exceeded by his sociopathic ability to kill in interesting new ways. He’s like Jigsaw from the Saw films on steroids. Gerard Butler is Clyde Shelton, the ‘average Joe’ who takes on the entire Philadelphia justice system when the local Assistant DA Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) makes a plea deal which allows one of the thugs who killed his wife and daughter to get off with a light sentence.
Ten years later, and presumably after meticulous planning by Shelton, he unleashes a rampage of destruction upon everyone involved in the plea deal. The perp who got off on the light sentence is cut into pieces while Shelton films the whole ordeal and mails it to Rice’s home. Everyone from the judge to the lawyers on both sides, to even the poor legal assistants become targets. Even after Shelton is captured and jailed, he continues to be able strike out against those he perceives in the wrong, baffling law enforcement who believe he must have an accomplice. That actually would have been ideal…perhaps someone in a position of authority who sympathized with him. It would have been far more believable and logical than what we actually got…a plot twist so ridiculous that it nearly derails the entire film.
“Law Abiding Citizen” is shamelessly manipulative. Of course we want to root for the man who only wants justice for his wife and kid but he eventually goes so far overboard in his thirst for revenge that by the film’s climax you’ve completely flipped or are neutral at the very worst. The message that the justice system sometimes doesn’t work perfectly is a fact that most people are aware of, but it’s the best we have.
Directory F. Gary Gray didn’t seem to have a firm grasp on the type of picture he wanted to make or the message he wanted to convey. Is it social commentary on the state of the justice system or merely an action tale of revenge that goes way over board? Gray ends up derailing his own message with the final fate of Shelton who doesn’t get his own day in court.
Despite the incredulousness of the plot, both Foxx and Butler are fun to watch and there’s also a strong supporting cast that includes Colm Meaney and Bruce McGill. The action sequences are well done and Shelton’s resourcefulness keeps you guess to the very end. While it has many flaws, “Law Abiding Citizen” has enough going for it to rate it a mild passing grade.
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