Y'know, if I wanted to eff with somebody's family, the last guy I'd pick is somebody who looked like Gerard Butler. Dude played Leonidas, for chrissakes and looks like a WWE developmental project. In Law Abiding Citizen, a button pushing revenge thriller by director F. Gary Gray(Friday), Butler gets a chance to revel in his crazier side as he goes toe-to-toe with Jamie Foxx.
The film doesn't take long to get it's motor running. Butler plays Clyde, a loving family man with a wife and young daughter. Clyde is an inventor, a gadget man as it were. That's all you pretty much need to know. Almost immediately, a ringing doorbell and a bat to the face signal the beginning of all the Clyde knows. A pair of criminals brutally slaughter his family before his helpless eyes. Jamie Foxx is Nick, the glory seeking prosecutor on the case. Nick, worried about his own reputation, cuts a deal. One of the killers testified against the other for a reduced sentence, the other gets Death Row. Clyde can't figure it out. That's what passes for justice in this day and age? 10 years pass, and one of the killers is set to die by lethal injection. It goes horribly wrong, and his supposedly road to the afterlife turns into one excruciating, brutal journey. The police suspect murder, but how could the killer have gotten in? Not long after, the other killer, who's been on the street for years living it up, meets a grizzly end.
The obvious suspect is Clyde, who allows himself to be sent to prison. However, the deaths keep mounting up. The real question isn't why this happening, but how if Clyde is safely tucked away in his cell? Is he getting help? Or is he just some sort of genius?
Law Abiding Citizen will have you questioning who's side your on in this little feud. It's easy to support the far more charismatic Clyde, who has the benefit of a father's just rage at his disposal. Then there's Nick, ostensibly the good guy in this duel, but undeniably selfish when it comes to his own career. He's willing to cut deals with murderers when it benefits him, but is he willing to do the same now? Clyde seems to have a mission that goes beyond the obvious vengeance and it seems to involve Nick. How far is he willing to push Clyde just to boost his own ego?
The answers to the many questions Law Abiding Citizen proposes are often absurd and stretch the bounds of credibility, but I didn't care one bit. Clyde's ability to effect the world outside of his prison cell is explained almost as a throwaway without any regard to how inconceivable it all is. It's to the film's credit that it doesn't make it any less entertaining. For the better part of 90 minutes we are greeted to a pulse pounding battle of wits between two heavyweights. Butler is simply fantastic here, showing more grit and fire and boiling rage than he ever could've hoped to show in 300. Foxx, who has never been a particular favorite of mine, does some of his finest work in a movie that he probably could've skated through. He and Butler are a perfect match, and their rivalry is what propels this film.
At some point I'll probably dissect this film to the point where I can no longer defend it. For now, though, it's a movie I have no problem saying I had a heck of a fun time with.
7/10
