An justice for all

Rating: 6/10 (27 January 2011)

Certain films defy logic, something that in many instances, the viewer does not mind, as long as the story makes some sense. "Law Abiding Citizen" was clearly a vehicle for Gerald Butler, who is credited as one of the producers. F. Gary Gray, and the writer, Kurt Wimmer, have combined forces to give us this drama in which a man, the victim of a horrendous crime that resulted in the death of his wife, and daughter, decides to take justice in his own hands to teach a lesson to the the system that did not serve him well.
The confrontation with Nick Rice, a Philadelphia D.A. and Clyde Shelton is something that films of this genre emphasizes by way of having Clyde one step ahead of Nick in whatever revenge he is trying to extract from the man he perceived made a pact with one of the criminals that killed his two loved ones. The hatred is such that it will consume almost one hour and fifty minutes of screen time where all kinds of nasty things will happen.
Unfortunately, even fans of this type of film, will see the impossibility of Clyde getting away with most of the things he does in pursuit of justice. Gerard Butler has the best part in the film. Villains almost always offer the opportunity to make an impact on the audience, as Mr. Butler does with his sly ways. Jamie Foxx, on the other hand, is not as effective as Nick Rice as one expected. Some of the supporting players, notably Colm Meaney, a good actor, Bruce McGill, Michael Irby and Leslie Bibb do not have much to do in the film.