Country:
USA
Recognizable Faces:
Gerard Butler
Jamie Foxx
Leslie Bibb
Directed By:
F. Gary Gray
I've said it already, movies hyped by Spike TV have no credibility for me. They sell sex and violence (which can be OK sometimes), but in Spike TV promoted movies, hype money overweight plot and quality. I tiptoed around Law Abiding Citizen for a good year now, but Gerard Butler stared down my soul from the box art, saying: "What's up pussy boy? Not man enough to see one of my movies? This is a good one lad!" I don't obey to many actors: Gerard Butler, Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham.
Law Abiding Citizen isn't a movie. There's no dramatic tension, no character development and the main protagonist is an asshole. Just good ol' Gerry Butler sticking it to the system. It's like a two hours long internet meme...and it's awesome. Within the first thirty minutes of the movie, Gerard Butler witnesses the murder of his wife and daughter, the court makes a deal with the main antagonist Darby (Christian Stolte), ten years go by and he takes his vengeance in the most bloody, gruesome way. Any normal director would've made a movie out of those events. But not F. Gary Gray! The movie just started.
Turned out that Clyde Shelton (Butler) had spent the ten years since the sentencing of his attackers, meticulously plotting a megalomaniac revenge plot where he would expose the farce of the judiciary system and kill everybody if they didn't agree with his values. Also, he happens to be a millionaire and an electronics genius. I didn't expect less from one of the new American action heroes. He's also very sexy. I had a thought for my Weirdly Obsessive readers when law enforcement handcuffs a butt-naked Gerard. Yummy!
Aesthetic considerations aside, the movie takes a more normal tone in the last hour, if not a little James Bond\Jackal Hollywood-ish. Jamie Foxx delivers the goods as asshole district attorney Nick Rice, who keeps being a turd despite Clyde Shelton's spirited efforts to open his eyes. Shelton is the only, even remotely, sympathetic character. His vendetta is a self-sacrifice and the only way to stop him is to abandon a little part of your soul. He shakes his opponents most well-anchored beliefs and forces them to a new perception. There is no "happy" ending. Some die, some survive, but there is a part of them gone.
Conceptually speaking, I like the ideas vehiculed by Law Abiding Citizen. It's a rare occasion where Hollywood and I agree. Visually speaking, despite the rocky, avant-garde, all-over-the-place start, it's ridden with clichés like blue/orange color filters. Only the last scene (and I'm not spoiling) is breathtaking of beauty and sadness, but apart from that, it's a little monotonous in its manners. Kudos for not employing the trademark "shaky camera" for the action scene and keeping it professional with wide angle shots.
Overall, Law Abiding Citizen is one little interesting oddity in Hollywood's landscape. It's not perfect by any means, but its unique brew of cheap action and deep reflexion about the concepts of law make it an above average movie that you might need more than one viewing to get a hang of. It's a great rental and I consider buying it once the price will hit the bargain bin.
SCORE: 82%
