Susan Granger’s review of “Law Abiding Citizen” (Overture Films)
Admittedly, the theatrical trailer for this psychological thriller was intriguing, indicating how our flawed justice system can be infuriating at times. And revenge is a great motivator, as Charles Bronson demonstrated in “Death Wish.” But this vigilante nonsense pushes credulity over the edge of absurdity.
As the title indicates, Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is an ordinary Philadelphia citizen – until his wife and daughter are murdered when drug-crazed thugs break into their home. After the killers are caught, an assistant District Attorney, Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx), arranges a plea deal, giving one of them a light sentence with early parole in order to get the death penalty for his accomplice.
“Some justice is better than no justice at all,” he explains. But Shelton’s sanity cracks.
Flash forward 10 years. Nick Rice has become an even bigger prosecutor, while Clyde Shelton opts for vengeance, making sure that the condemned killer’s lethal injection is agonizing and strapping the even-more-vicious killer-who-got-away-with-murder to a table and savagely hacking him apart. Consumed by sadistic rage, Shelton is willing to be sent to prison, but he issues a warning to Nick to fix the corrupt judicial system or all the key, high-profile players will die, one by-one, threatening: “It’s gonna be biblical.” That includes the assistant prosecutor (Leslie Bibb) and the tough-talking Mayor (Viola Davis). Even though he’s behind bars in solitary confinement, Shelton seems to be able to stage spectacular assassinations, fiendishly bargaining for a comfortable bed to spare a lawyer and a steak dinner to save a judge’s life.
Written by Kurt Wimmer (“Street Kings”) and directed by F. Gary Grey (“The Italian Job”), the corrosive concept leads to an emotional quagmire. One cannot sympathize with Shelton, who becomes a psychopathic terrorist; one cannot empathize with shady, self-absorbed Rice, who has blatantly abused his power. The incoherent plot has ludicrous holes and neither Jamie Foxx nor Gerard Butler is convincing playing this cat-and-mouse game. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Law Abiding Citizen” is a suspenseful, if implausible 3. It’s criminally contrived.
