Lorrie Reyes / Roundup
If you like revenge stories that “stick it to the man” and you can sit through 108 minutes of explosions, guns, blood and a lot of talking, you may enjoy “Law Abiding Citizen.”
“Law Abiding Citizen” is a dramatic thriller that turns a family man, Clyde Shelton, played by Gerard Butler (“Gamer,” “300”), into a vigilante determined to take out his frustration on all aspects of the justice system.
One person Butler has it out for is District Attorney Nick Rice, played by Jamie Foxx (“The Soloist,” “Ray”), after he sets up a deal to let his wife’s murderer get a minimal sentence.
Butler’s powerful yet suave demeanor in “Law Abiding Citizen” helps him stretch his acting skills from playing the good husband and father to the bad guy you root for — all while being funny.
He has come a long way from being the “This is SPARTA!” guy. He seems to have tried to work on his acting skills, although people who saw “Gamer” may beg to differ.
As a relative newcomer to starring roles, Butler holds up well next to veteran Foxx mainly because Foxx’s character is overambitious in finding his man, Butler. He almost feels ingenuine.
Foxx plays a DA in Philadelphia who runs around the city to find clues to put Butler away. But no powerful attorney would bother with the detective legwork that Foxx does in the film.
That and other situations the characters are placed in feel unrealistic, including the premise of Butler’s job in which he gets paid to kill people while not being around.
Although the idea is a bit farfetched, this crime thriller is directed nicely by F. Gary Gray, director of other revenge movies including “The Italian Job” and “A Man Apart.”
Squeamish viewers might need to turn away, as the gore level is pretty high in some scenes, especially when Butler cuts a body into 25 pieces and sends a copy of the video tape to Foxx’s family.
It’s nice to see that other cities actually have a winter as portrayed in Philly.
The script is well written. Even though this is a serious drama, underlining jokes and pranks break up the tedious dialogue.
Be wary of predictable dialogue, especially the lines everyone has heard during the previews and in the final scene with Butler and Foxx.
“My wife and daughter can’t feel anything,” Butler says. “They’re dead.”
The ending does have a twist that makes the film come full circle. Well, not really a circle, but more of a shape made up by the film’s writers that would never exist in the real world.
But that is why it’s a movie.
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