Law Abiding Citizen

Justice at any cost
Justice at any cost
LAW ABIDING CITIZEN (18)
D: F. Gary Gray
Momentum/The Film Department/Warp (Lucas Foster, Gerard Butler, Alan Siegel, Mark Gill, Kurt Wimmer & Robert Katz)
US 2009
104 mins

Action/Thriller

W: Kurt Wimmer
DP: Jonathan Sela
Ed: Tariq Anwar
Mus: Brian Tyler

Gerard Butler (Clyde Alexander Shelton), Jamie Foxx (Nick Rice), Bruce McGill (Jonas Cantrell), Colm Meaney (Det. Dunnigan), Leslie Bibb (Sarah Lowell), Michael Irby (Det. Garza), Regina Hall (Kelly Rice)

I've never been too much of a fan of Gerard Butler because I think he looks like a slob, but I must admit he does a better job in this than in the majority of his other roles.
In a nutshell, the movie plays out like Straw Dogs meets Prison Break. 
The movie opens with family man Butler attacked in his own home by two thugs who murder his wife & daughter. A loophole in the legal system allows one of the men to walk free and the other to death row.
Fast forward 10 years later and Butler has established an intricate plan for revenge against the criminals, he is caught and arrested before making a stand on the justice system from behind his prison bars.
The first half of the movie is an excellent revenge thriller with some genuine moments of tension and shock. There's a point however where the movie descends into implausibility and the whole message the film tries to convey in the first half gets lost before the ending takes a big dunk in the same old Hollywood formula.
Jamie Foxx is good as the slimy lawyer and there's a few other decent supporting performances. Overall, it's a good watch but I was particularly disappointed by the sell-out ending.
6/10

Gerard Butler in Law Abiding Citizen
Gerard Butler in Law Abiding Citizen