This is a really good movie, what is "justice" all about?

Rating: Null/10 (5 May 2010)

A trait of a really good movie is it keeps your interest by wondering what is going to be the next development. This one does that really well. When you learn everything there is to learn most would consider the developments implausible, if not impossible, but put that aside and you enjoy a good story with interesting dialog and good acting.
Gerard Butler (who also is one of the producers) is Philadelphia family man Clyde Shelton. As the movie opens his home is invaded and two men bind and stab him and his wife, and take their young daughter. The wife and daughter die, but Clyde survives.
The men are arrested, and the badder of the two strikes a bargain with the DA, in exchange for testimony which will send his partner to the death chamber, he will only get a 3rd degree murder sentence, which means he could be back on the streets in 5 years or so.
Jamie Foxx is the prosecutor Nick Rice, probably the best in the DA's office, and probably next in line for DA. But Nick is proud of his record, when someone cites his "95% conviction rate" he quickly corrects him, "96%." So it is clearly established that Nick also has his own image in mind, he hates the thought of losing a case. So that is why he struck the deal and maybe circumvented real justice.
But when Clyde met with Nick, where Nick was trying to convince Clyde that this plea deal was good, because at trial they risk losing, Clyde had trouble accepting that. He was there, he saw what happened, he could testify. Finally Nick told Clyde the deal had been made already, and he had to accept that. That didn't sit well with Clyde who realizes Nick is putting his own interests ahead of justice.
So that all happens early and sets up the real story, what is justice and is our justice system working the way it is designed? Will Clyde, a law-abiding citizen, accept that or will he take justice into his own hands? Well he has to, otherwise there would be no movie.
Good movie, makes you think.
SPOILERS FOLLOW: Very quickly we see the executed prisoner die a very painful death, and then after he gets out of jail Clyde cons the other man into a trap where Clyde, dressed as a police officer, kidnaps him and slowly tortures him as the dismembers him until death. But that is just the beginning of Clyde's revenge. A smartest of the smart, a former best of the best at secret operations, he systematically carries out a plan to wreak havoc within the Philadelphia government, and killing everyone who had even a peripheral involvement in his case. He purposely gets put in jail, then into solitary, to carry out his plans. Everyone is puzzled, how can this man in prison cause these murders?
MAJOR SPOILERS: They finally tracked down that Clyde had bought a number of parcels of dilapidated property, and one of them is adjacent to the prison. In preparation for his revenge he had dug a number of tunnels into prison cells, including one into his solitary cell. Equipped with sophisticated gadgets and uniforms, he would escape in disguise and carry out his deeds. The final one, would take out Nick, the major, and others with a cell-activated bomb, with napalm-like effects. But Nick figured it out in time, and was waiting for Clyde when he returned to his cell. He tried to talk Clyde out of it, don't make the call, don't wreak more havoc. But Clyde did anyway, and as Nick exited the cell, Clyde realized the bomb had been moved and now was under his cot. He dialed his own death.