It's the Script That's Insane, Not the Characters

Rating: Null/10 (20 January 2011)

Law Abiding Citizen is about as close as a movie can come to being good while still having a ridiculously poor script. The acting from Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx is fine, though not exceptional. Butler basically does a good job with a very inconsistent character. The production values are good, and the movie has a few nice gory scenes, although most of the outdoor scenes were so green-tinted that I suspect the entire movie may have taken place in the Matrix and I must therefore entirely forgive the plot holes.
The problem is, from start to finish, the movie is filled with silly plot inconsistencies, unresolved details, and twists that throw prior scenes into question. The characters also make decisions that seem incongruous with their professions, knowledge, and with reality.
If you can enjoy a movie with a lot of bad writing, there's still a lot of movies I would recommend first, but Law Abiding Citizen is watchable at the very worst.