Who's the hero?

Rating: 6/10 (4 March 2012)

Expectations are everything. I went into the movie (shown on Channel 4 this week) expecting gratuitous, "Saw"-levels of gore and a shockingly bad ending. Instead, I found the violence to be fairly restrained (mainly taking place off-screen) and the ending not nearly as bad as everyone makes out.
It runs as an interesting concept-thriller where the main character is clearly in control every step of the way. Clyde is a lot like Michael Scofield in "Prison Break". He's in there because he chose to be there and every little event takes place for a reason.
It also explores themes around the sensibility of the law quite nicely, such as the scene around Clyde's application for bail.
However, here's a fundamental problem with LAC, namely that there's no clear hero. Obviously, the audience is supposed to side with Clyde, at least initially. His wife and daughter have been horribly slaughtered and the real killer receives a minimal sentence. Clyde wants justice and he gets it, exacting torturous revenge on the murderer. Now it's fair to say that Clyde seems fairly demented at this point, despite his careful strategic planning. But then his crusade for justice goes further afield, and it's here that our sympathy starts to wear thin. Are we to continue supporting his murderous campaign against the justice system? Or are our affections now supposed to shift to ADA Nick and his band of legal beagles? A much more interesting story would have been one in which Clyde saw justice triumph through a clever manipulation of the system itself. If that sort of thing appeals to you, go see "Fracture". As for LAC, an interesting cat-and-mouse thriller entertains for most of its running time, yet ultimately disappoints in the final analysis.