Law Abiding Citizen

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Oct 152009
 

lawabidingAs a rule, I really hate it when characters say things that you might call “trite,” “contrived,” or “fuck me, I’ve heard that about a million times in movies, how can Gerard Butler even keep a straight face?”  So about two-thirds through the film when Butler’s maniacally awesome Clyde Shelton proclaims that he’s “just getting warmed up,” I was actually surprised to find myself still holding strong with the overly convoluted Law Abiding Citizen.  It’s far from perfect and is being released at quite an odd time of the year, but as far as blending 80 parts thriller with 20 parts horror film, I think it ends up working.  But then there’s that damn Jamie Foxx getting in the way; more on that in a moment.

The plot goes like this- a tech geek, Clyde Shelton (Butler) is involved in a home invasion where in his wife and bracelet fashioning daughter are murdered.  When hot shot prosecutor Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) makes a deal with the more ruthless of the killers for a lesser sentence and in so doing forces Clyde to plan an elaborate scheme to kill everyone from the assailants to the law firm involved with their prosecution. What follows are torture scenes, anti-bomb robots armed with bazookas, detonating computer devices, and, a personal first, death by T-bone steak.  This is a movie that you won’t just stumble into before viewing.  If you’ve seen the trailers, you know what you’re getting into.  And the fact that the plot is just outlandish means that if you have any doubts about it, just save yourself the trouble and move along.

I’ll get the bad out of the way first.  The worst part of the film is that the final pay off is a little weak.  I won’t spoil anything here but it gets a little far-fetched.  Which is hard to imagine given the whole T-bone scene.  But I couldn’t help but feel rooked by the twist.  I guess it was a nice chance in pace.  I’ll say this much- it’s original.  There’s a lot of cliched methods that could have been used to finish this movie off shit-style but instead they tried to go whole hog with something out of left field.  I don’t think it’s a complete miss but it’s certainly not the home run I was hoping for.

Ancillary to that disappointment is Jamie Foxx.  I don’t doubt the man can act but he’s a little miscast here.  If you’re reading this and thought that Ben Affleck was miscast in Changing Lanes then you know what I’m talking about here.  There are moments early in the film where Foxx seems like he doesn’t even realize what he’s saying.  And we’re supposed to believe that he’s to prosecuting as Gerard Butler is to screaming manly shit?  Not a chance.  This really seemed like a pay check film for Mr. Foxx.  And I don’t blame him- there are worse films that can fit into that category than this one.  I’m looking at you Will Smith.  Along with everything you’ve done since Men In Black.  Minus Hitch.  Hitch is the fucking bomb!

Ok, enough with that.  What makes this film worth seeing?  How about some really nasty kills?  Did I mention the T-bone?  Because it is pretty spectacular.  Then there’s the torture scene that doesn’t really show anything but the aftermath.  Yet Gerard Butler really tells this dude how ate up he is and how much more ate up he will be.  Specifically his genitals once they meet his box cutter.  Hell, this movie even makes a lethal injection death interesting.

I think the strongest part of the whole flick is Butler.  You can tell he’s having a blast playing this character.  And who wouldn’t?  I can imagine when his agent handed him the script, he probably asked him something to the effect of, “Hey dude, so in this flick you get to basically own everyone, tell a judge she takes it up the ass, and blow tons of shit up.  Yeah, I saw that line about ‘warming up,’ too.  Not much we can do about that, but this is going to be great for your ego.”  In all honesty, I could almost see teeth marks from all the scenery Butler devours throughout this flick.  He’s a bad ass.  And this coming from a dude that thinks 300 can suck a dick!

So there you have it.  It’s not perfect but I think it has enough positive things going for it to warrant a recommendation.  I know that counter programming Law Abiding Citizen with Where the Wild Things Are could result in disaster for this movie.  But if you are in the mood for a better than average thriller, you could do worse.  Check it out if you want.  Or don’t.  I don’t give a shit.  Stop reading already.

Seriously.  Stop it.

Why on earth are you doing this to yourself?  Go back to Facebook.

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