Review: Law Abiding Citizen

I’ve always been drawn to revenge movies, those where the main character has nothing to lose and goes on a rampage. Thus is the premise of Law Abiding Citizen as Clyde Shelton (played by Gerard Butler) sees his wife and daughter killed. The prosecutor Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) cuts a deal that results in one of the two murderers facing the death penalty. The other was flipped to ensure that but in doing so received only a few years. For Clyde this is far from being the justice he sought and that drives him to formulate a plan of revenge to culminate years later.

Both Foxx and Butler do well in their roles and the movie is best when the two are directly interacting. I wouldn’t call it an action movie necessarily but the scenes with explosions are very grounded and impressive. There was also one instance in particular where I anticipated something was coming but was still caught off guard as I think everyone in the audience was rattled by it. Director F. Gary Gray has churned out some entertaining movies in the past and he has done so again here.

While there is an element of mystery to how Clyde is able to do everything while he is being held I never felt like that was an important part of the story and the reveal was somewhat anti-climactic. All that really mattered was that he was doing it and how those involved would react and whether they would figure it out in time.

My biggest issue with the movie is that there was really no one to root for. The audience will naturally be drawn to Clyde because of the trauma he went through and wanting to see those responsible pay.  However as the movie progresses the gruesomeness of his actions and the deaths he inflicts (some to innocent people) makes it near impossible to support him. At the same time on the other side is Nick, who allowed this to happen even though the justification is presented as him having simply done his job by making a tough decision.

About half way though I started thinking about whether there would be a resolution that I could actually be satisfied with. However it actually was tied up well and I walked away feeling good about that. I don’t believe anyone came out a winner or loser which given the developments throughout the film was the best way to go.

Law Abiding Citizen is a well structured and entertaining film. The only thing missing was a connection to the characters by having someone to side with. Still for anyone that enjoys the revenge or cat and mouse type movies this is a good one and worth a trip out to the theater.

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