Enjoyable but morally questionable

Rating: 8/10 (2 December 2009)

Gerard Butler's Clyde Shelton sees his wife and daughter savagely murdered by a pair of burglars. Jamie Foxx's Nick Rice is the DA who plea bargains a short sentence for the worst of the pair to turn State's evidence against the other. It turns out that Shelton is a former covert specialist in planning and executing sudden and secret death for the Government, as Rice finds out when the two murderers met highly unpleasant demises, following which Shelton turns his attention to the flawed system which failed to hold them properly to account.
This is essentially a revenge movie, albeit dressed up with fun but unlikely trappings, none of which bears examination in the cold light of day. It's full of action, holds your attention, and even engages you from time to time with issues which require some thought. Having said that, there is some very muddled morality in it - given Shelton's actions, and notwithstanding the murders which catalyse him, is he fundamentally any more moral than the murderers? But if you remove your thinking apparatus and simply get aboard for the ride, there is much to be enjoyed here.