Law Abiding Citizen

Rating: 8/10 (10 July 2010)

Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is at home playing with his wife and young daughter when suddenly he hears a knock on the door. When he opens the front door, two thugs Clarence Darby (Christian Stolte) and Rupert Ames (Joshua Stewart) burst in. Darby stabs Clyde, his wife and child. Only Clyde Shelton survives this event and he turns to the ambitious lawyer Nick Rice for justice. But since DNA has been denied at trial, Rice opts for a deal in which Darby gets five years for testifying against Ames who gets the lethal injection. This sombre, dark and serious backdrop is surprisingly and unexpectedly the set-up for an effective dark comedy in which Clyde Shelton not only takes revenge against Ames and Darby, but also teaches Nick Rice a lesson that he will never forget.
I am inclined to regard "Law Abiding Citizen" as a dark comedy/fantasy, because I cannot imagine it working any other way. Gerard Butler does not play his character straight, but rather with a comic and sarcastic edge almost as though from the very beginning he is out to make a point that the system of justice (as he sees it) is ridiculous. The facial expressions and the emotional response are different from what you expect from a man who lost his wife and child. Just compare Butler to Brandon Lee in "The Crow" and you will see what I mean. "Law Abiding Citizen" is also more of a fantasy than an action thriller, because what it is really about (if you think about it) is a victim fantasizing about what he would like to see happen to the criminals who ruined his life and to the justice system that (in his mind) let him down. Since the movie is about Clyde Shelton's fantasy and not about anything real, it features many unlikely and fantastic (but nonetheless entertaining) twists and turns that could only be found in a revenge fantasy. For example, Clyde Shelton launches countless terrorist attacks against the justice system while he is in prison. To be sure, the film explains how Shelton is able to do this, but(without giving away the surprise) the answer provided is itself implausible. The frequent face-to-face encounters between Nick Rice and Clyde Shelton in prison are also part of this fantasy, because they are too unlikely to be believed. A prosecutor would simply not spend so much time visiting a man that he had sent to prison. Lastly, the concessions to Shelton - which include a nice bed and a Frisco's steak - are highly unlikely, which is why those scenes and more particularly the reaction of the cell mates to them are so funny.
I think this movie is going to appeal more to people who are themselves victims of crime and fantasize about taking the law in their own hands and about meting out justice to those who have wronged them. But I also enjoyed watching "Law Abiding Citizen" when I stopped taking it seriously and saw it more as a revenge fantasy with a dark comedic edge - and on that basis I do recommend it. For all of the implausible plot developments, "Law Abiding Citizen" has kept me entertained right to the end. Finally there is something quite refreshing about the Clyde Shelton character - and the way Gerard Butler played it - because it is different from the Hollywood characters in the revenge genre. Butler did something bold and original here, which indicates that he is more than the typical Hollywood actor (a la Keanu Reeves) and that the writers for once actually gave some thought to making this character not only intelligent, but subtle and intriguing.