Liberty and Justice for All? I don't think so

Rating: 7/10 (26 October 2009)

Law Abiding Citizen, the movie that I wasn't sure what to expect from. I knew from the trailer that I wanted to see it, it has two great actors, Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx. A really great concept to show how messed up our judicial system is in America. But ends up being more of an action film above all. If you get past the all the parts that are not believable, this was a great movie. I just let go and started having fun with it, but what kept it from being a terrific movie was the ending, I'll get to that in a bit. I love these films, the movies that point out screwed up a system can be, a poor man looses his family to a violent crime and there's a deal made so the one who actually did the crime is the lesser punished? We see that on the news every day and just shake our heads on how messed up it is to see scum on the streets on technicality. Law Abiding Citizen has you rooting for a man who did what any man or woman would do if they felt their case was over looked, but then when he goes above and beyond it, that's when the movie goes in being unbelievable.
After a home invasion that left his wife and daughter dead, Clyde Shelton, a top-notch retired spy is told that one of the criminals who killed his wife and daughter would get off, due to his cooperation with the district attorney's office to put his accomplice on death row. Ten years later Shelton begins exacting revenge not just against the criminals, but the entire justice system. He is quickly captured, but Nick Rice, a young D.A. at the time who chose to make the deal in order to keep his conviction rate up so he could climb in the ranks in the department, realizes that prison isn't enough to keep Shelton from killing everyone involved in letting Clyde's family down, criminal or judicial.
I'm really struggling with this movie, because I don't want you to get me wrong, I did enjoy the movie very much. I just think that the concept was a bit far fetched, we went from rooting to Clyde to saying "woah, hey, you've gone to far" which makes you question your own morality. But I'm warning you, there are major spoilers after this. The ending was what ticked me off, Clyde is this genius who has figured everything out, he knows what he's doing and can always be 2 steps ahead of the people who are investigating him. When Nick discovers how Clyde has always been 2 steps ahead, it's like that's it, we're done. That's it for Clyde, he dies and that's it? I'm just supposed to accept that Clyde doesn't have a back up plan or maybe surprises us by having a complete different use for the bomb he planted than what Nick thought of in the first place? But I have to let it go, because most of the movie is actually good, you let go and it's a great movie, it's just the ending that lost it for me. But it is worth the watch, but I think I would tell you to rent it vs. seeing it in the theater.
7/10