Release Date (UK) –27 November 2009
Certificate (UK) – 18
Country – USA
Director – F Gary Gray
Runtime – 109 mins
Starring – Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx
Gerard Butler seems to play two different characters – the rom-com lead (PS I Love You, The Ugly Truth) or gangster revenge psychotics (Rocknrolla, Gamer). With Law Abiding Citizen his character Clyde is certainly the latter. After witnessing his wife and daughter brutally murdered by burglars Clyde feels failed by the American justice system and seeks out his own revenge on them. Jamie Foxx plays Nick, Clyde’s lawyer who struck a deal with one of the murderers so the other would definitely get the death penalty (and thus his own 96% conviction success rate wouldn’t be damaged), but leaving the other killer to only serve 3 years in jail.
The film begins 10 years after this, and initially it looks like were going to watch Clyde simply get his vicious revenge on the two killers. However this is over with pretty quickly in some excessively violent scenes as after they are both found dead the police quickly arrest Clyde. This is where your preconceptions of Law Abiding Citizen will be turned on their head as the film evolves from a revenge story to a dramatic tension building thriller as it emerges that Clyde had spent the last 10 years developing a complex series of assignations and masterplan to bring down the Philadelphia justice system single handily from the confines of his prison cell. The violence scenes are often gory and brutal, so its not one for any sensitive folks out there.
Slightly oddly its lawyer Nick who seems to be in charge of bargaining with Clyde and trying to unearth his plan, rather than the police force who simply follow Nick around. Unfortunately quite a lot of the plot is similarly far fetched and some of the killing scenes that are supposed to shock are far too predictably built up with dramatic music and close ups. While some viewers may easily be able to ignore the plot holes and ridiculous ending I found it slightly infuriating and thus was quickly put off developing any interest in the characters. However for those who can easily suspend reality then this film is a tension building rollercoaster that is full of plenty of twists and turns to keep you entertained. Both Butler and Foxx are capable in their roles, but there’s nothing special here.
Gerard Butler co-produced the film and its easy to see a few ways he’s managed to sneak his influence into the film – his character is named Clyde after the Scottish river he grew up near, the premiere of the film is in Glasgow this coming Monday and Butler himself has a law degree, so the justice themes here are close to his heart. Its out on the 27th in the UK so fasten your seatbelt for this dramatic ride, trailer below
