Shelton feels betrayed by Rice's actions, as he had pleaded with him not to make the deal and to at least try convict both of them, and because he chose to release the actual killer. Ames is falsely found guilty of masterminding the break-in and personally committing both murders and is sentenced to death. Unwilling to take a chance on lowering his 96% conviction rate, he chooses to make a deal with Darby (the actual murderer), letting him plead guilty to a lesser charge, in return for testifying against Ames. Prosecutor Nick Rice ( Jamie Foxx) is unable to use DNA evidence to securely convict both accused, leading to a possibility that he might lose the case should he support Shelton. Running time: 1 hour 48 minutes.In a 1999 violent home invasion, engineer Clyde Shelton ( Gerard Butler) is forced to witness the rape and murder of his wife and young daughter by Clarence James Darby ( Christian Stolte) and his unwilling accomplice Rupert Ames ( Josh Stewart).
Wimmer and Robert Katz released by Overture Films. Gary Gray written by Kurt Wimmer director of photography, Jonathan Sela edited by Tariq Anwar production designer, Alex Hajdu produced by Gerard Butler, Lucas Foster, Alan Siegel, Mark Gill, Mr.
It has a lot of grisly and sometimes imaginative violence and some swearing too.ĭirected by F. On the other hand, the actors were no doubt paid well for their suffering. You can’t help regretting that some of their characters will meet fiery or bloody ends. Most of the fun in the feature-length “Law Abiding Citizen” comes not from the cleverly rigged explosions and bloodlettings including one unleashed by a robot in a cemetery but rather from the game and gifted supporting cast, who are not featured in the two-minute trailer version.Ĭolm Meaney, Leslie Bibb and Bruce McGill are all much better than they need to be, as is Viola Davis in a few scenes as the mayor of Philadelphia, where this bloodbath takes place. Another 40 viewings would have added up to the running time of the whole film, without much loss of pleasure or nuance. By the time I saw “Law Abiding Citizen,” I had already seen the trailer four or five times. The details of his job history are revealed, during a secret meeting in a tunnel somewhere, late in the movie. “Some lessons must be learned in blood,” Clyde declares, one of many portentous proverbs that he seems to have learned during his career as a military killing-gizmo specialist.
He dispatches the thugs, willingly goes to prison and starts doing dinner theater Hannibal Lecter for Mr. His character, Clyde Shelton, returns 10 years after the death of his family to tie up some loose ends. Butler, for his part, displays a surliness that many in Hollywood seem to mistake for charisma, and suffers the anguish of violent bereavement as if it were an annoying gastrointestinal ailment. Foxx, who is cashing in on his Oscar rather than going after a second one. This does not seem like much of a stretch for Mr. Foxx’s character, is slick and ambitious, proud of his 96 percent conviction rate and quite sure that he’s the cleverest and coolest person in the room. It’s about the cat-and-mouse game between two very smart guys, and it’s perfectly happy to be as dumb as it wants. Gary Gray (“The Italian Job”), wears its preposterousness with a certain pride. Though it sometimes puts on a serious face, this movie, directed with snarling, snappish style by F. And it has less ethical gravity than any three of the “Saw” movies.
Foxx, the prosecutor who made that deal, thinks that the system, however imperfect, did its job.īut really, “Law Abiding Citizen” has about as much to say about real-life legal issues as “Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen” had to say about defense policy. Butler, playing a family man whose wife and daughter were murdered by thugs, feels he was let down by the system, which gave one of the thugs a light sentence in exchange for testimony against the other thug, who was sentenced to death. “Law Abiding Citizen,” a blunt and sadistic revenge thriller starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler, occasionally pauses from the mayhem to stage a solemn debate about law, justice and morality.
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