Law Abiding Citizen

Yes, once again I will go against the current...:-) Law Abiding Citizen may have routine direction, an unremarkable antagonist, and an unsympathetic hero, whose value system and careerism could make weaker characters feel disgusted, but all of that is still enough for a decent three stars. But then we have the screenplay, which is unrealistic, megalomaniacal, not addressing many crucial moments, but above all, silly in its overall construction. The difference between a quality thriller and Law Abiding Citizen is the same as the difference between Zinnemann's The Day of the Jackal and its 1997 American remake. Put some high-tech gadgets in there, a few shocking twists, and an appropriate dose of brutality, and the result will surely come. In practice, the viewer is faced with situations where a terrorist places a bomb that he can detonate with a mobile phone, and instead of actually detonating it and delighting in the destruction of his victims, he walks home, so that his opponent manages to deliver the bag with the explosive, which, for a change, he knows can be detonated at any time or randomly explode, to the terrorist's bedroom and maliciously enjoyed watching the terrorist carry out his own sentence... Overall impression: 25%. (03/05/2010)

Grrr disappointing. The film has a terribly fast pace, by the second minute Butler has a baseball bat in his face and some initial getting-to-know-you takes place via a knife in his stomach, after all why not, but then you find the film deals this half-heartedness and brevity terribly often. You can't begin to empathize with Butler that fast based on one scene where he and his daughter exchange two sentences and his wife calls something to him, because in the next one they take them out "there's just another woman and child in the film". Thus your attention is drawn to just wondering what a pissed off Butler is going to do and how he's going to do it, and thus a film that imho relies on making the viewer feel outrage at a poorly set up legal system becomes a cold viewing experience not unlike, say, installments of the Saw series ("I wonder how he's going to take this one down"), which doesn't work out much either because Butler is full of crap like "...this gonna be biblical." and "...then everybody will die" and then the excited viewer is disappointed when he doesn't do that much. It's a shame to talk about the logic of some of the scenes and the completely out of nowhere ending. All in all, a star for the scene with the phone, a star for the steak bone scene, and a star for Butler. (11/20/2009)

A solid thriller, extremely suspenseful from start to finish. We can thank for this the idea, which managed to turn even the classic theme of revenge into a fresh and unique spectacle, as well as the two actors (Butler's "daddy" really isn't a good guy, Foxx's prosecutor beautifully gropes between what is right and what is wrong), the direction and the music. However, some of the moments seen in Law Abiding Citizen (in its second half) did not seem to me the least bit realistic, or even feasible in a normal universe. Otherwise - a really good film. (07/22/2010)

F. Gary Gray is indeed a routine artist, and probably will be forever, but I would be lying if I said Citizen is not an interesting and relatively thrilling movie at certain moments. I was surprised by the brutality of some scenes and the R rating, but I was not surprised by the awkward twist and the average screenplay. There is a decent chemistry between Butler and Foxx, but they exploit it only halfway (greetings to the screenwriter),.The pyrotechnic effects like Backdraft and the shootout in the cemetery evoking Sheriff were a pleasant retro touch. (02/20/2010)

Wimmer's screenplay isn't particularly great, but it’s central idea is really good. Moreover, the excellent Gerard Butler immediately got not only to me, but also to my sister, and we were on his side throughout the whole movie. Personally I understood why he was doing it. Hell, I'd do the same thing. Unfortunately, the closer we get to the conclusion, the more the creators make him a negative character so that they could slip into an established template. Not that this suddenly makes the whole movie bad, it just takes a certain aura away from Butler. Something is stolen from the film that could have made it an unforgettable spectacle. It's not what you know, Clyde. It's what you can prove in court. (01/16/2010)