Law Abiding Citizen, which was released October 16, was directed
by F. Gary Gray and Written by Kurt Wimmer. The film runs about
109 min. and stars Gerard Butler and Jamie Fox. I am going to
tell you right off the bat that this is a really good movie. It
will keep you on the edge of your seat guessing what is going
to happen next and how it will happen. With that said, let's get
right to the plot.
Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is a family man with a wife and daughter and is a brilliant inventor and lives in a very nice Philadelphia suburban home. One afternoon two robbers invade his home and one of them kills his family, stabs him leaving Clyde for dead. The two robbers are caught and are now facing trial. Clyde is going to the trials consistently and the Assistant DA, Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx), is told by the DA to make a deal with one of the killers to testify against his partner for a 10 year prison sentence. Nick approaches Clyde and tell him the news and that he has no choice; if he goes to trial he might lose the case, and the deal has already been done. The first robber got the death penalty and, after 10 years, the second robber is released from prison.
SPOILER ALERT: SKIP TO THE END OF THE PARAGRAPH, IT'S ABOUT TO GET GOOD!!!!!!!
During the execution of the first robber, the lethal injection goes haywire torturing the man before he dies. The second guy gets graphically sliced to bits. Clyde is arrested and kind of admits to Nick that he did it. This is where the cat and mouse game begin. Clyde is held till he sees the judge for a bail hearing, but Nick pushes for Clyde to be held with out bail. Clyde is his own counsel and states that it is illegal to hold him, and then before they let him go, he purposely tells the judge how stupid she is and ends up being held in contempt of court. A frustrated Clyde is put in jail and tells Nick that the justice system must be fixed. Anyone connected to his case will soon die. Clyde has the ability to reach everyone, even from jail, and he starts methodically messing with Nick and the city of Philadelphia. Nick must stop Clyde before he turns to his family next. I skipped a lot of this movie plot for a reason. You have to see it.
The Good:
This movie is exactly what you expect a "punch to the face of authority". It's a cat and mouse game where you know who everyone is but you don't know how everything is done. It makes me wonder if there is anyone out there that is really this smart?
The Bad:
Who is really the bad guy? They make Clyde look like the bad guy, but in all reality if it happened to you…wouldn't we want blood too? Is Nick as clean as presented? The one thing I would have liked to see is more legal action. There are things going on that I didn't have the answer to and I felt they didn't go into enough legal detail.
The Ugly:
If you have a weak stomach, you might want to close your eyes for the death scenes of the two robbers, it's pretty gruesome! It was pretty wild with the murders of all the people around Nick too. I saw people jump out of theirs seat screaming. Some of it will catch you off guard, I promise.
The End:
I don't like Jamie Fox as an actor (as a comedian yes) but he played the role very well. I was very impressed with this whole film. Gerard Butler doesn't disappoint either. He has consistently picked good roles. Law Abiding Citizen will keep you guessing till the end; the violence, the suspense and the rage is worth going catch it in the theater. I give the film a TOV 5 out of 5. Just 'cause of the Neck tie idea... (You'll see)