Substitutes sharp, observant social commentary with hollow glossy thrills

Rating: 4/10 (14 September 2010)

"Law Abiding Citizen", the irony in the title wasn't lost on myself and no doubt will it have been on the movie going audience. But what is ironic about Hollywood execs. Is that they attempt to shovel out films that will have mass appeal and will speak to them on their level but the result can be that they end up insulting the intelligence of their core audience. And no more may this be the case than with LAC. A film that had so much potential considering It's contentious subject matter.
Scots actor and heartthrob Gerard Butler is Clyde Shelton, the "Law Abiding Citizen" of the title. A seemingly happy family man who when the movie opens is left helpless in his own home when two thugs break in, incapacitating him while one of them proceeds to brutally rape and murder his wife and kill his five year old daughter. Following the aftermath the two thugs are captured and when their case goes to court the one criminal who didn't commit the brutal rape and slaying s is given the death sentence while the other gets a more lenient five year sentence for testifying against him. Shelton is of course angered by the deal that was made, partially facilitated by prosecuting assistant district attorney, Nick Rice played by Jamie Foxx. Ten years later Shelton wages a one man campaign of terror against those who he holds responsible for what happened to his wife and daughter including those who had a hand in the morally questionable deal that was made in court that has left one of the criminals now a free man.
What is lamentable about LAC is that here we have what might have been an intelligent and maybe even a potentially searing indictment on the American justice system,(or many similar legal justice systems the world over) as well as even the more baser aspects of human nature that bubble to the surface when the demand for justice is so great that it might corrupt our very soul. But rather than aim for offering a film of philosophical substance that might provoke thought and debate, writer Kurt Wimmer the man behind the ponderous, futuristic action thriller "Equilibrium" opts more for a slick, routine thriller which panders to those looking for gratuitous thrills.
Firstly though, what Wimmer fails to explore and illustrate is the moral reaction by both the media and the general public. Any attempt at televisual interviews, news reports and vox pops or outside court scenes are brushed aside so we are only afforded an insular account of the ramifications of Shelton's actions so that we only witness how it effect those he targets. None of the backlash against the justice system, the Mayors office etc. is explored to an extent that it seems not only lethargic but ludicrous. While we the audience are left slightly baffled as to who are allegiances are supposed to lie with. Yes, it's supposedly made clear that we're ultimately supposed to be rooting for Rice but when your main protagonist is an egotistical, ADA who initially appears apathetic towards Shelton and his situation and aloof to the point of no-see-um, there seems to be little if anything to empathise with. Foxx an accomplished actor is handicapped with a two-dimensional emotionless role to the extent that even in his scenes where he vents what might amount to any kind of anguish or violent reprisal towards Butler is stilted and never rings true. Butler on the other hand while fine and you initially find yourself feeling his pain. The clumsy handling of his character means that Shelton descends in to being less a man on a mission than a perverse anarchist or serial killer. Picking off his victims more for the hell of it. Any righteous rage or anger even when he confronts his wife and daughter's killer is left subdued. Thus any sense of who has the moral high ground is left indistinguishable from who doesn't. The dubious hero is revealed to be a sanctimonious hypocrite while his opponent becomes an indiscriminate murderous socio-path. Any attempts to attribute any kind of humanity in Rice seem insincere to the point where you find yourself contemptuously uttering to yourself, "Yeah, right!"
Perhaps needlessly graphic in some of It's more violent scenes, director F. Gary Gray to grant him some kudos somehow manages to illicit some if little interest in proceedings and manages not to let the movie's pace run away from itself. Although any gradual build up of tension or what should be shocking moments when they hit the screen, we're left anything but exhilarated. Everything is so methodical that it's as if it were painted by numbers. Pyrotechnics although decent can't compensate for mediocre orchestration with a plot that in it's final act veers in the to realms of the preposterous with a plot twist which defies any real rationale and laughs in the face of logic.
Solid support from Colm Meaney and Bruce McGill although while it slightly elevates the films slight standards also only serves to highlight that quality actors are being wasted on flimsy material. While it may surprise you to discover that LAC Isn't a total dire mess and It's partially lifted by Grays slick if workmanlike direction. It's lamentably much less that it might have been and will appeal only to those who favour a glossy sheen and tawdry thrills to studious character development and substance of a social nature that made "Natural Born Killers" more rewarding.