Any law abiding citizen should send this one to solitary

Rating: 1/10 (5 September 2010)

I first saw Gerard Butler in Mrs Brown (1997), but didn't know it. I next saw him in Dear Frankie (2004) and The Phantom of the Opera (2004), both of which made me realize how good a performer he is.
So this is the fourth time I've seen him. I wished I'd passed because this film is beyond belief, literally and figuratively. Butler did this one for the money, that's for sure: there can be no other reason for such a talented actor to waste his time, my time and my money.
Where to start? Perhaps by saying: don't bother. Or – burn notice. Or – tell it to the Marines. Or – get Dexter to do a number on all copies. Or – don't ban nukes, ban this excuse for a movie. Or whatever turns you on...
Because dear viewer, you'll go a long, long way before you see another movie that is worse. Why? Okay, here's what it's about: with a nod to Michael Winner's winning story about some guy's Death Wish(1974), Clyde Shelton (Butler) decides to avenge the cruel murder of his family by home invaders when justice is denied by a corrupt system and officials. He devises and sets in motion a ten – yes, TEN – year plan to wreak havoc, Armageddon-like, upon a system that must be destroyed to be made right. Talk about having patience, huh?
But, it gets worse because, to get the ball rolling, Shelton has to get into prison. To do that, he starts murdering the bad guys who murdered his family. And, when being questioned in prison, he murders others while he's there. Because why? Because he's a solitary guy and wants to be left alone...
To tell you more will reveal the whole fatuous reasoning behind Shelton's actions. So, if you really want to bring out the masochist in you, go see it. The better thing to do is to vote with your absence to send this movie to trash video and hope the producers lose a bundle. They deserve to.
Because, in their desire to make a statement about the sorry state of the American criminal justice system, they have simply traded on the base machismo of an eye-for-an-eye theme and presented the whole thing seriously, instead of satirically. In doing so, they have, instead, prostituted the whole concept of justice – simply and simplistically – in an attempt to make abuck – or too many.
Yes, it's that bad. If I could give a zero out of ten, I would. One is far too much. I've never said that before about any movie, but this one deserves it.