Posts Tagged ‘3 star movies’
It seems like Law Abiding Citizen is one in a series of husband/father avenges the death/mistreatment of his family movies spawned by the success of Taken (next eligible is the Mel Gibson-starring Edge of Darkness). In that one we have Gerard Butler as Clyde Shelton, enjoying father and husband (established quite effectively in just the first couple of minutes of the film) up against Jamie Foxx as prosecuting attorney Nick Rice in a game of psychological cat and rat. Clyde’s wife and very young daughter are brutally
murdered (his wife, before his eyes) by a few burglars who break into his home. So to guarantee that at the least among the perpetrators gets the death sentence, Nick cuts a plea bargaining with the other, who will only serve five years. He does this without first consulting on Clyde, who doesn’t buy Nick’s argument of it being better to see some justice served besides take the chance that both men go absolve. Within the first ten mins you’ll get the entire apparatus for the film. Cut to ten years later – Nick now has a nine yr old daughter and the death house inmate is about to be executed. What should be a standard death by injection goes horribly wrong in a scene that will probably have you cringing in your seat at the least a bit. Soon after the bad guy who only served five years gets barge in a compromising
position by Clyde – and he’s attending have a very, very bad (last) day. One thing leads to another and Nick determines that Clyde is the guy behind both deaths. In a scene that frankly makes no sense other to show Gerard Butler’s au naturel butt, the cops capture him and take him in. It soon becomes clear that Clyde wanted more revenge – he prefer to* expose the corrupt justice system where compromises are made and the letter of the law sometimes chairs to injustice. Murders of those involved in the plea deal continue to come about even with Clyde behind bars, where he makes a series of odd and interesting requests – all of which arise to be brought very specific reasons. Naturally the big mystery is how these things continue to happen despite the fact Clyde is behind bars – who’s his accomplice? Unfortunately the longer this advances, the bigger the shovel that’s needed to dig the answer to this question, and the solution is hard to swallow. Gerard Butler basically chews the scenery and Jamie Foxx isn’t given a batch commotion here additional than look and act solemn. The movie is very violent, now and then quite funny (Gerard gets some great lines that had the audience laughing aloud) and has at the least one scene that comes at you out of nowhere with a hell of a punch. I’m a big fan of this kind of film being a husband and father myself, and was really enjoying it up until about the final twenty mins where it took a bed a direction that fetches up putting a big damper on the experience. The ending seals the deal and really left me pretty cold (unfortunately). So while the ending is pretty unsatisfying, I had many fun for most of the movie. So overall if you’re into this kind of movie and you are a fan of Gerard Butler and/or Jamie Foxx I recommend Law Abiding Citizen.
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