A contrived but usually kick-ass thriller

Rating: 7/10 (16 February 2010)

Despite a highly unbelievable plot and an anti-climactic finale, Law Abiding Citizen gets you hooked because it has a kick ass edge to it and a small does of cunning and irony to its story, in addition to two slick actors at the top of their game.
Clyde Shelton is an engineer and a family man living happily in Philidelphia. One night, his house is broken into, his wife is raped and his daughter killed. A mistake on the part of the justice system results in what Shelton considers to be an insufficient sentence for the two perps. He comes up with a plan to get back at both the killers and the prosecution who he feels didn't do their job. it is a plan ten years in the making, but there will be blood for sure.
Law Abiding Citizen does a good job of building not so much suspense but rather energy. As the film builds, it keeps you going, but therein lies a problem as well. With each chapter, the plot gets more contrived and less believable. By the time we reach the climax, the story almost cracks under the weight of its own absurdity. Who would believe that one individual can outsmart an entire city's law enforcement. On top of this the ending has a dumb payoff.
The one element which maintains its strength is the duality of Fox and Butler. Their screen time together is solid. This is the film that Fracture could have been if it wasn't so confused in direction and more focused on the people. Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling are no match for these two.
All in all, Law Abiding Citizen is not an intelligent movie, and it is certainly not for the squeamish kind, but I enjoyed it.