Law Abiding Citizen Movie Review

In this suspenseful thriller, Gerard Butler (minus his Spartan abs from 300) plays Clyde Shelton, a brilliant inventor whose wife and daughter are brutally murdered in a home invasion. The killers are caught, but prosecutor Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) makes a deal with one of them, letting him off with a ten-year jail sentence while his partner is sent to death row. Shelton feels betrayed by Rice and the whole justice system.

Ten years later, a merciless Shelton is back, proving that revenge really is a dish best served cold. One of his family's murderers is up for execution, but Shelton alters chemicals in the lethal injection to make sure it is an agonizingly painful death. The other killer has just been released from prison, and is suspected for the murder of his partner. Shelton tricks him into meeting him at an abandoned warehouse, paralyzes him, and forces him to watch in a mirror as he dismembers him with a chainsaw. What follows is a gruesome and bloody scene that will have your girl grabbing your arm and squealing "Ewwww! I can't watch!" Yeah, it's that great.

But Shelton won't stop there. He doesn't just want to get back at his family's murderers, but at the whole corrupt justice system that failed to give him retribution. He lets himself be arrested by the same prosecutor Nick Rice, and as the movie progresses, the true extent of his capabilities unfolds. Shelton is really a retired CIA mastermind, and he has a plan to expose the many flaws in the justice system, while at the same time systematically killing everyone and anyone involved in the case of his family's murder. Rice is left desperately trying to anticipate Shelton's next move, but the clock is ticking as his friends and coworkers are murdered one by one.

Law Abiding Citizen takes the classic story of a man out for revenge and brings it to a whole other level. Rather than an enraged madman out for blood, Shelton is a cool, calm, and collected killer who has been planning his vengeance for ten years. The way he manipulates the justice system to suit his plans is pure genius, and some scenes are downright funny, like when he requests a mattress and expensive steak dinner in jail. Butler gives such a convincing performance as the character Clyde Shelton that he has you on his side by the end of the movie. But maybe this is exactly what makes the ending so disappointing. You want to see Shelton beat the justice system, or at least get away with what he's done. Instead, he is killed by Rice, the very same prosecutor who represents that corrupt justice system.

The other downfall to this movie is Jamie Foxx's poor excuse for acting. He usually delivers a solid performance (think The Soloist or Ray), but this time around he just doesn't bring the emotion needed for this role. But perhaps it is Gerard Butler's stellar performance that makes Foxx's seem so much weaker in comparison. Maybe if Jamie Foxx's acting performance was more believable, I could get a little bit more enthusiastic over the fact that he isn't the one who ends up dead at the end of the movie. Overall though, Law Abiding Citizen is still a great movie with a unique storyline, surprising twists, and enough violence to keep most of us action-junkies happy.