"Citizen" Violent but Intellectual

Rating: 9/10 (17 October 2009)

"Law Abiding Citizen" Story: a husband/father takes revenge on the DA who let the killer of his family go virtually free. The IMDb synopsis says that the wife is raped and murdered and the husband executes a torture/killing spree, even while in prison.
I'm more of the psychological thriller type, but I decide to go after checking out the screenwriter, Kurt Wimmer, and watching the trailer where a couple cars blow up and flip—always fascinating for me from a crew POV.
But I had reservations. I was looking forward to a Friday night show, then remembered what I was going to see. As a writer, I knew the violent murder scene was going to happen right up front, so I was prepared. In fact, assuming I was going to spend a night watching gratuitous violence probably made me enjoy the movie more, because that wasn't the way the violence was handled.
Sure enough, the sweet dad and daughter scene we start with is interrupted less than three minutes in by the doorbell ringing. I brace myself. Apparently no one in the theater has read the synopsis or watched the trailer because they all jump when dad is cracked in the head with a 2 x 4 as he opens the door.
I was surprised by what they didn't do: obvious choices that would have created more uncomfortable drama. The killing and rape—in that order—was not as graphic as it could have been by a long shot. The sweet daughter is not seen suffering. Instead, they focused on the important setup of the psychology of a killer, his trauma, and the fact that he blacked out which was an integral part of the killer being released after 5 years.
Even the naked butt scene was an important plot point. When Gerard Butler ("300" but also "Phantom of the Opera") gives himself up, and the SWAT team swarms up to his door, he strips and puts his hands in the air, thus reminding you later, that he took nothing with him except the beaded bracelet his daughter made for him on the last day of her life. But you don't forget his obvious strength when he has the opportunity to use it. And when he and the DA (Jamie Foxx, filming in Abq now for "Due Date") are alone together, you remember that Butler could easily tear him apart. It also shows you that he is both calm and—in case you didn't get it before—definitely crazy.
A moment in the first third of the movie gave the basic contrast: Foxx's 10-year-old daughter in a cello recital inter-cut with the setup of a state execution: tuning the cello, testing the syringes, etc. Again, not done for purely showing the contrast, but for plot points.
What I found most impressive about the film was the age-old story, the struggle of good vs. evil in a twisted situation: Is the DA evil for letting one killer off? Is the husband good for trying to teach the DA a lesson? I found the twists in the plot I didn't anticipate surprising, and when I knew exactly what was going to happen, I still enjoyed it because no one else in the theater did, based on their jumping out of their seats.
The only disappointment for me was the lack of a full revealing of who this dad really was. I wonder if some background was cut out of the edit, because an important phrase is never clarified, except that it is a red herring, and in this plot of many layers, just two didn't seem enough. It was what my teacher Tom Musca referred to as a refrigerator moment, when you're home from the movie for hours and are perusing the fridge when you suddenly realize one thing that didn't add up.
Finally, as the film winds up, you have to keep asking yourself, how is the DA going to stop this guy? You know if he just takes a gun to the prison and blows his brains out, he will be stooping to the killer's level. And then the mayor suggests he do that. And then he's there, in the cell with a gun. But the end satisfies in a way I didn't expect, yet looking back on is very simple.
In sum, yes, it's a pretty violent movie, especially the first third, but most of the violence is the offscreen/horrific in your mind type. But the mostly superb plot is intellectual and heartpoundingly "fun" to experience.
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