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