Law Abiding Citizen
Director F. Gary Gray’s film Law Abiding Citizen will try the patience of the viewer. For one reason it is vengeance that is taken too far or rather you could say it is an exaggerated revenge story. Probably once the audience watch the film they would get ready to avenge their wasted time and money.
The movie Law Abiding Citizen just does not seem to provide the audience any relief with a particular element, say for instance the complex things do not get solved and in fact they become more complicated and the viewer will run out of patience.
The film Law Abiding Citizen is about the weakness of the judicial system with regard to the criminals. The movie begins with the entry of goons into Clyde Shelton’s (Gerald Butler) house and they murder his wife and daughter.
His wife is actually been raped and killed. But Clyde survives this gruesome incident obviously to take revenge, which is the main theme of the film and this one single theme revolves round the entire movie.
Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) who is the district attorney makes the matter worse for Clyde when he discloses that he has made a deal that one of the killers will be sentenced to death and the other one will be convicted for murder but will go scot-free.
Most predictably Clyde is unable to digest this indifference from the judicial system. Clyde simply cannot believe why one of the killers has to be set free after a few years in jail when both the criminals are guilty of their crime, they should obviously get equal punishment, which according to Clyde should be no less than going to the gallows.
And the brilliant explanation comes from none other than Nick rice who says that if the criminals are put on trial there could be a chance that both of them will escape the severe punishment and well be freed and that is why he has made a deal to provide half-justice to Clyde.
Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx in Law Abiding Citizen
Now Clyde who has witnessed the murder of his wife and daughter cannot come to terms with this unfair sentence and he takes the on the judicial system and decides to avenge the death of his dear ones. So he takes ten long years to plan and kill all his enemies that not only include the murderer but also the people in the District Attorney’s office.
Clyde would have gained the sympathy of the audience probably if he decided to kill only that criminal who was let free after a few years but his mindless killing is an indication of psychopathic behaviour that does not go well with the audience.
Gerald Butler and Jamie Foxx have come up with reasonable performances but the scriptwriter Kurt Wimmer and the director Gary Gray could have definitely done a better job. Some of the moments in the film are beyond one’s understanding rather we should it not make any sense.
Well, the movie gets thumbs down and you can well stay away from it on your precious weekend.
| Film | Law Abiding Citizen |
|---|---|
| Cast | Jamie Foxx as Nick Rice Gerard Butler as Clyde Shelton Colm Meaney as Detective Dunnigan Bruce McGill as Jonas Cantrell Leslie Bibb as Sarah Lowell Michael Irby as Detective Garza Gregory Itzin as Warden Iger Regina Hall as Kelly Rice |
| Director | F. Gary Gray |
| Writers | Kurt Wimmer |
| Producers | Kurt Wimmer, Gerard Butler, Lucas Foster, Mark Gill, Robert Katz, Alan Siegel |
| Runtime | 1 Hour 49 Minutes |
| Rating | 2.5/5 |
Posted on Sunday, October 25th, 2009 at 4:22 pm