December 26, 2009
''I'm gonna pull the whole thing down. I'm gonna bring the whole fuckin' diseased, corrupt temple down on your head. It's gonna be biblical.''
A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He target...( read more)s not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.
Jamie Foxx: Nick Rice
Gerard Butler: Clyde Shelton
Law Abiding Citizen could have been this years Inside Man in terms of thrillers and puzzling treats in cinema. It could of capitalized on making a clear point which aims carefully placed stabs and results at the Justice system. What we do get from this Law Abiding Citizen, is something which is a mixed bag of predictable tricks. One moment it's doing antics similar to Saw then Silence of the Lambs before finishing with a confusing, predictable twist which undermines everything we have just seen. What was the point? The answer is open to interpretation. Clearly whatever the message or point it's diluted somewhere.
However, still the fact that until one point (leaving aside some Hollywood scenes and the acting of robotic Foxx; which was inexplicably poor compared to the recent The Soloist) you could agree that it was somewhat of a breakthrough idea, deserves some credits.
First of all, I would like to say that i expected to see more of the main events that formed the character of Clyde Shelton(Gerard Butler): the slaughter of his family and his revenge on the killer. Maybe I ask too much from a Hollywood movie in general but if you were exposed to images more shocking than the ones you actually see in the movie, you would be able to understand the feelings that the protagonist experiences; receiving no help from the corrupt Justice system.
Interesting facts about Law Abiding Citizen: At one point Frank Darabont was attached to direct. If only he did.
Catherine Zeta-Jones was attached to the project in early development but dropped out due to changes with the scripting.
Darby's ring tone in the film ironically is Bloodline by Slayer.
Michael Nutter also cameos in the scene where the Mayor (Viola Davis) is swearing in Nick as the new District Attorney, the man holding the bible is the actual mayor of Philadelphia at the time of filming.
Director Cameo from F. Gary Gray; The detective who hands Garza the evidence bag after the execution scene.
Director F. Gary Gray also decided to use Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse as the restaurant that caters Clyde's lunch after dining there several times during filming. The restaurant was also the location of the film's after-party following its screening at the Philadelphia Film Festival.
The second and biggest problems in Law Abiding Citizen were the holes in the scenario which appeared incrementally; leading up to a disappointing (and rather unrealistic) ending. I'm not going to get too much into details concerning the acts of Clyde during his plan but I would like to comment on the fact that although the writers had in mind the whole time that Clyde was fighting not only for his family but very much more against the surprisingly justice-free judicial system; they inevitably abandoned this main idea and turned their focus too much into the characters and how Clyde could influence Nick (Jamie Foxx). I was really intrigued when the writers were making remarks about how the effort to make the judicial system perfect and caring for all had turned it into a seemingly unfair and naive system; but I was finally let down by the conclusion which didn't try to tackle the notion of a dead end in our dysfunctional society to viewers in an understandable way.
Just to mention my idea of an ending I would like to experience the well expected catharsis which would come through the death of the Mayor and the upcoming upheaval of the society; followed by a judicial system punishing the murderer, serving the rights and the safety of the majority once again. As they used to say in Rome ''Give the people what they want!'', unfortunately Law Abiding Citizen didn't. It fizzled out like a wet drizzly fart.
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