Overture Films | USA | 108 mins
Warning: This review contains spoilers.
Law Abiding Citizen is a preposterous and lucrative revenge story filled with nonstop cliches. There is nothing more than a generic story and pure cheesiness, and yet it still maintains it’s fun garbage tone. It does cross the point of genuine badness at times, but counters with moments of pure excitement. This isn’t a particularly good film and is even downright cringeworthy during certain moments, but even those moments are fun due to their ridiculousness.
Ten years after his wife and daughter are brutally murdered, Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is out for revenge. The murderers slip through the system due to a vain prosecutor named Nick Rice (Jaime Foxx), who seems more focused on his conviction rate than justice. Shelton’s on a war path of vengeance or, as he hilariously puts it,”it’s gonna be biblical.” Shelton is not only interested in taking down his family’s murders but also the people who are part of the legal system who let them go. Even after he brutally kills his wife and daughter’s murderers he’s still out for blood. After being put away in a jail cell, the murderous rampage continues. How can this be happening when the man who may be responsible is in jail? Does he have someone on the outside assisting him? Nobody knows. The only key thing is that he lets Rice know is that he’s “just getting warmed up” (recall this scene in the trailer, followed by a man standing in the middle of engulfed flames).
This story is highly similar to many 70’s revenge thrillers (i.e. Death Wish) except this film seems to be parodying the cliches present in those films. From the always-too-familiar junky bad guys to a lot of silly one liners, it feels like the perfect unintentional comedy. The film opens up with the murder scene in a rather predictable fashion i.e whip-pan camera movements and super-duper serious bad guy lines. What was meant to be a serious scene turns very cheesy and cringeworthy fast.
The film becomes highly entertaining during the second and third act, where Clyde is instigating and playing nonstop mind games. You see his elaborate and illogical plans play out on screen and its fun to watch on a purely visceral level. More than a few of his elaborate schemes are over-the-top and preposterous, which makes these moments even more hilarious. Another real pitfall of the story, besides the generic storytelling, is the fact that the film focuses more so on Rice, who is a much less engaging character. Much of his underdeveloped character arc stems from his boring family life – he’s not as intriguing as Clyde.
Director F. Gary Gray’s career mostly consists of hits, but he’s also offered more than one lackluster picture. At his best there’s very well made movies such as The Negotiator, but he’s also capable of crafting pure garbage such as Be Cool and A Man Apart. His pros and cons are all apparent here – and the film still triumphs thanks to both. There’s some impressive camerawork, including the “Gerard Butler fire” money shot thats been scattered throughout all the ads (recall the reference earlier in the review). Moments familiar to those carry a crisp gritty visual aesthetic reminiscent of old noir thrillers. On the down side, many of the film’s laugh-at moments can also be accredited to his direction. He divulges into some rather cheesy moments of genericness such as Foxx’s Rice walking away from an explosion without so much as looking back. It’s similar to the scene in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, only professionally done and without blatantly ugly CGI. Gray, for the most part, keeps that over-the-top tone throught the film. It’s all cheese, but professionally catered cheese.
Butler’s charisma is another factor that truly makes Citizen worthwhile. At first he’s a simpleton family man – up until his family is brutally murdered. Afterwards, he’s a man-made weapon/super killer willing to do anything to get revenge. His character is the most involving in the film and his lucrative actions fit in with his character arc, unlike a few other characters. Foxx doesn’t fair as well, delivering a fine performance stuck in a thankless role. Rice is nowhere near as compelling as Shelton and yet commands the most screen time. His family life is the main focus of his character arc, which is ultimately uninteresting and almost useless. As an unfortunate side note, Viola Davis (Doubt) is stuck to playing quite possibly one of the most incompetent mayors ever to grace the silver screen.
While the film is riddled with problems and could have been a crime film disaster, it’s far from it. Law Abiding Citizen is bad at times, but it always, curiously, remains highly watchable. Butler’s performance, the all-around ridiculousness of this revenge-soaked world and the slick direction make it a fun ride. It features the signature cheesy B-movie moments and laughably weak dialog, yet it still works as a hilarious and fun thriller.