'Law Abiding Citizen' is so bad it should be illegal
LOS ANGELES — The real mystery of "Law Abiding Citizen" isn't how Gerard Butler's character manages to wreak explosive, bloody havoc on Philadelphia while confined behind the walls of his jail cell.
What's truly baffling is how the star of the hugely successful "300" has managed to make yet another questionable movie choice since then, following "P.S. I Love You," "The Ugly Truth" and "Gamer."
This time, Butler serves as a producer and stars as Clyde Shelton, who watched helplessly as his wife and young daughter were murdered during a home invasion. Ten years later, he's out for revenge — not just against the killer who went free after testifying against his accomplice, but against the entire judicial system.
He gets himself intentionally arrested to go after his ultimate target, Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx, looking bored), the slick prosecutor who cut that deal a decade ago to maintain his high conviction rate. But first he takes out everyone around Nick in ridiculously elaborate fashion, to the growing frustration of the mayor, played by Viola Davis.
Clyde's impossible omniscience and his sadistically convoluted game-playing feel like a rip-off of the "Saw" franchise, and the banter he shares with Nick makes "Law Abiding Citizen" seem like a poor man's "Silence of the Lambs." His tactics become so predictable, you know the second you hear a ringing cell phone or see a character climb into a car that something is going to blow up real good, real soon.
F. Gary Gray ("The Italian Job") dully directs Kurt Wimmer's over-the-top script with a misty, bleached-out aesthetic that only makes the movie feel like more of a drag.
"Law Abiding Citizen" asks us to remain firmly on Clyde's side even as the body count of decent, innocent people piles up, but it's a tough request. He's meant to be not just a purveyor of vigilante justice but a crusader. But he gets off on the carnage too much, and the empty, repetitive conversations he has with Nick do nothing to humanize either man. And so in the end, all we're left with are ticking time bombs and a chunk of our own time that we'll never get back.
TITLE: “Law Abiding Citizen”CAST: Gerard Butler, Jamie FoxxDIRECTOR: F. Gary GrayRATED: R for strong bloody brutal violence and torture, a scene of rape, and pervasive languageGRADE: * (out of 4)
