Law Abiding Citizen Movie Review
Gerard Butler Seeks Vengeance in Far-fetched Film
Law Abiding Citizen starts with a picture-perfect family being attacked in their home. The wife and daughter are killed, and the husband survives. Unfortunately for the murderers, that husband is Gerard Butler (300, Gamer), whose character, Clyde Sheldon, is a former think-tank genius and creator of such deadly devices as a killer neck-tie thread (seriously).
The criminal prosecutor, Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) takes a plea bargain from one of the murderers to preserve his high conviction rate; the murderer then walks after serving only five years in prison. This makes Gerard Butler very angry, and you don't want to see him when he's angry.
When the justice system fails to keep the murderer of his family behind bars, Clyde takes vengeance on him and then on the entire justice system.
A Ridiculous Romp
Clyde has an intellect and a mastery of his skill set that rivals Jason Bourne of the Bourne trilogy. So why isn't his character as fun to watch? The answer is execution. Story line aside, Jason Bourne is a character whose skills are demonstrated coherently, and though they are far-fetched, the Bourne movies are internally consistent and manage to suspend the viewers disbelief. Clyde Sheldon, on the other hand, is poorly presented. Throughout the film, the viewers find themselves asking "Since when can he do that?"
By the time Clyde’s skills as a master of subversive tactics are explained, the viewers no longer care. The film has already become an unintentional farce.
A Litigious Mess
Throughout the film, Nick Rice is busy working the legal system in an attempt to stop Clyde’s rampage. This is one of the most poorly executed aspects of the film.
Things that could clearly be solved by real lawyers easily are treated like major legal mysteries. These legal mysteries serve to perpetuate the plot, which is a testament to the weakness of the entire film. An example: Clyde is being interrogated for murder, and gives a very vague testimony, which Nick accepts as sufficient proof for a case in court. Not so fast, though. Clyde explains to him why the testimony he gave is not sufficient for conviction, and proceeds to use his confession as a bargaining tool.
It's odd that a prosecutor with a self-proclaimed 96% conviction rate couldn't identify an unacceptable confession without the help of a lunatic inmate. The film is full of attempts at wittiness that fall flat.
Mitigating Factors
If nothing else, the film is fun to laugh at. It’s full of cheesy one-liners, and the essential message of the film is undermined by the laughable way in which it's delivered,
The film fails to be surprising in terms of who dies and when, but manages to come up with some entertaining vehicles through which death occurs, in some cases literally. One of the most memorable action sequences features a glorified remote-control car armed with a machine gun and a rocket launcher.
This movie is not worth the price of admission for those looking for a film to seriously enjoy. On the other hand, viewers interested in explosions, and those looking for a good laugh and some one-liners to quote derisively may find this film to be amusing.
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