A right wing revenge thriller

Rating: 5/10 (23 January 2011)

Since making the ultra entertaining 300 Gerald Butler has become a star and an in demand actor. But for every film like 300 and Rocknrolla he has to counter balance it with a film like the Ugly Truth and P.S. I Love You. He has now turned to pure exploitation cinema, with 2009 seeing the release of Law Abiding Citizen and Gamer.
Clyde Shelton (Gerald Butler) was a successful inventor living in Philadelphia with his wife (Brooke Stacy Mills) and daughter (Ksenia Hulayev). But one night, two criminals (Christian Stolte and Josh Stewart) invade his home, tie Shelton and his family up and murder his family in front of him in an almost A Clockwork Orange style. When the case goes to trial the ambitious prosecutor Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) settles for making a weak deal just to keep his conviction stats up. 10-years later a betrayed Shelton goes out on a mission of revenge, torturing the two criminals who took his family and from behind bars wages war against the whole of the legal system.
One thing has to be said straight away, Gerald Butler can not do an American accent! I don't understand why casting directors keep insisting that he plays non-Scottish characters, he hasn't got the vocal range. That said he does play the most interesting character in the film, a man who has lost everything using his skills and intelligence to get revenge and showing faults in the American legal system. But the filmmakers ruined that idea by turning him from being ordinary man pushed the extreme to a black ops assassin who makes Bond film type gadgets.
Law Abiding Citizen starts out interesting enough, starting with a violence crime against a man's family, how the legal system in America is based on whether you can get an easy conviction even when they have a decent case against a criminal and the torture scenes where pretty much something out of a Saw film. The way Shelton picks people off, from criminals to lawyers is similar to a horror film but done in a thriller/action film. Shelton is a man who is pushed the extreme it is hardly surprising he acts the way he does. Action fans will be satisfied with the violence action scenes but there isn't enough of it.
Jamie Foxx is an obviously capable actor, winning an Oscar for Ray and won the respect of directors like Michael Mann and Joe Wright. He does a decent job and he is the best actor in Law Abiding Citizen. But it was hard to sympathise with a man who put his work first, is blindly ambitious and does not use the justice system to its full extend. He looks for the easy deal and not the best deal and if this film was set in the real world wouldn't the media question some of his prosecutions? Like why do rapist get tried for lesser offences. The film was at first sympathetic to the Butler character but the way the character changed from being a broken man who loved his family and plans his revenge to a man who turns out to be a cold and calculating assassin for the CIA felt so fake. His methods even change from someone who does real physical torture to attacking from a distance: he was a little like a poor man's Joker.
The message of the film can be seen as a right-winger's wet dream. It is a film that says if the justice system fails then you should be allow to take justice in your own hands and be allowed to use violence against criminals. The other argument it makes is that the American legal system is filled with holes that allow criminals to escape justice and that there is a real distrust of the system. That rights are designed for the benefit of the accused and American legal officials should be allow to ignore civil liberties for the 'greater good'. Isn't Common Law based on the idea that you are innocent until proved guilty? Writing wise Law Abiding Citizen is filled with holes, like how Nick changes, his hypocrisy and how he changes his mind on issues in the manner of hours. There is also the idea that Nick is meant to be a really smart lawyer who should have potential for elected office, but he does make some pretty stupid decisions through out the film. The film also does not explain why some events happen like why was Shelton attacked (if he was such a good spy wouldn't he have a lot of security) or how some people do not notice certain things.
Basically the first 30 minutes are good but after that the film does not know which way to go and does have a dodgy sense of morality.