A collosal failure and wasted opportunity

Rating: 2/10 (5 December 2009)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Action is a genre in desperate need of some young blood. In a day and age where a 62 year old Sylvester Stallone (not looking a day of it!) can be a box office sell out with a fourth Rambo film, it just goes to show how much they're relying on the old stars to draw in the crowds. There have been some more modern stars with potential, such as Vin Diesel and The Rock, but they've never been given a script that really struck fans. The same could be said of muscly Glaswegian lead Gerard Butler, who's been in recent films such as the joyless, soulless Gamer and poor man's Gladiator 300. And this latest disappointment makes nothing any better.
Law Abiding Citizen had the potential to be a really tough, raw action thriller and in some ways it sort of does. The plot's the familiar, formulaic sort involving a man who's family are murdered right in front of him, only to see justice fail him and for him to return ten years later with vengeance on his mind. But after his first encounter with his first thug, where he pretends to be a sleeping cop, the film's credibility goes completely out the window and it turns into a ridiculous, far fetched fantastical sort of tale that goes completely against the raw, realistic revenge film it was advertised as. Since the plot's very similar to The Punisher, you see how that film worked because of the fantasy/comic book theme to it and it's outlandishness wasn't a problem but here it completely eviscerates the tone. Further implausibilities and inconsistencies keep popping up throughout the film and before long it's all gotten too much. The fact that it all ends up being quite predictable doesn't help, either.
The opening sequence has gained some tongues wagging for how nasty and shocking it is, and while it's certainly not nice, the film really picks up it's mean spirited side more towards the end, by which time it's gotten even more silly and unbelievable, and boredom has inevitably set in. F Gary Gray most notably directed the distracting but unremarkable hostage thriller The Negotiator but that's a masterpiece to sit through compared to this, a dark revenge tale that had the potential to really get under your skin but ends up getting under your nerves. *