Review: Law Abiding Citizen

Law Abiding Citizen is about Gerard Butler character, Clyde, who, after losing his wife and daughter, goes on a killing rampage from prison and is on a personal vendetta against the lawyers (Foxx) and officials who allowed the killer to go free.

Disclaimer! There will be spoilers in this review. Tread cautiously if you have yet to see this film

Law Abiding Citizen had a cool concept and an amazing trailer that really made one want to see it. But is it worth the price of admission?

Yes-ish. I just want to say that this was a good, well made movie. But like most things it had its share of problems.First, what did it do right.

Well the casting, for one, was very impressive. The actors portrayed these characters how one would assume they would act and did a very good job. Also the story was intriguing, pulling you in and rarely letting up. Let me emphasize on the pulling you in. The movie opens and within 2 minutes, Gerard Butler has just witnessed his wife and daughter being murdered by buglers. The first 2 minutes! No set up. No, look at the happy family for 15 min. Just getting down to business. This was a great way to get the audiences attention and get you hooked into the movie.

The story was good, keeping you guessing who would be offed next and how Butler was doing it from inside prison. Jamie Foxx played a lawyer, who acted like a detective, figuring out who the next target was and hunting down clues to try and figure out how people were being murdered by this guy who is already in prison. So over all, lots of praise. But there were problems.

Have you ever tried to get into a movie where all the main characters were antagonists. And I'm not talking about movies that focus on the antagonist as the main character (ala American Psycho). I mean even the "good guy" is not a guy you want to root for, and you don't necessarily even want him to succeed. The film starts out making you very sympathetic toward Butler and shows Foxx as being an ass, who takes the plea deal with the murder just to keep his wins up. So you feel for Butler and are already against Foxx. But then they flip it. Butler starts killing people. Now if it was just the murders, I would understand. But he starts going after everyone. And in really brutal ways, meant to turn you against him and toward Foxx. But Foxx is so unlikable in the movie that you never really want him to come out on top.

Also there is a terrible character arc for Foxx's character, Nick. He starts as a douche who only looks out for himself (exhibit A- he lets murderers go, on plea deals). But 10 years pass and he has a kid. . . and he still only looks out for himself. Then Butler lets himself get caught and Foxx starts making deals with him in exchange for information on more people who will die. Butler's whole point is to teach Foxx that the law is the law, and deals shouldn't be made. And Foxx finally gets this at the end, and then turns around and pretty much commits MURDER!. How can you feel sympathetic for this guy. That's what the real problem was.

So in closing, it's definitely a good movie that you should check out. But you could skip the theatre, wait for the DVD and be happy.