This could have gone terribly wrong. Law Abiding Citizen's premise is a helluva conceit and a big idea like this needs some strong girders to keep it from collapsing. Luckily, this flick has a number of those.
First off, the acting is top notch, better than you might expect for a revenge film. But, then again, this is a little more than a revenge film. Think Death Wish on steroids with socio-political commentary jacked up in the mix too (not saying Death Wish was lacking subtextual layers). There's also the fact that the storytelling is strong; it wasn't phoned in. The movie didn't rely on its premise to maintain interest. The premise is executed with style and intelligence, which an over-the-top idea like this needs to maintain credibility. The controlled brutality of the film also works. There is one moment in which you may feel you've slipped into the Saw franchise, but this film takes the brutality down a notch where it is still strong and shocking (especially for a mainstream thriller) and gut-churning but without a priority of focus on the violence. From there, the Saw parallels remain, though not so much from the vengeful character's methods but by way of his Mensa-level ingeniousness. Indeed, part of Law Abiding Citizen's draw is the mystery of how the hell Gerard Butler getting away with this stuff? It's no secret (the trailers reveal this much and the viewer finds out early) that Butler's character goes to jail. But once locked up, he continues to unfold his massive scheme that reaches deep into the halls of justice. And these are no simple machinations. These are elaborate schemes masterminded by a man locked away behind bars in a nasty prison institution. He's not only pissed (his wife is raped and murdered in a rather uncomfortable opening scene and his young daughter is killed, as well, thankfully off camera) but he's got a point to make. This is no minor revenge scenario, though one can certainly say revenge is a motivator. But Butler is out to teach attorney Jamie Foxx - and the rest of the justice system - a lesson after seeing a violent, guilty criminal get off with a measly sentence after rape and murder, thanks to a deal the sleazeball pulls to hang the worst of the crimes on the other guy (who was not the ugliest of the two perps). Given Butler's motives, it's easy for the viewer to get behind him, even as his acts of violence escalate. It's the catharsis of film; we can enjoy id and ego driven acts in cinema we would (mostly) never approve of in real life. At any rate, for much of the film we are fascinated by Butler's surprises (and they surprise Foxx's character as well as us, I can tell you - Butler stays one step ahead of all of us) and, frankly, inclined to root for him. And here is where the single flaw of the film comes in (I'm not counting the preposterousness of the plot as a flaw since the film is kind of supposed to be a vehicle for a big idea). In the last act, the film asks us to shift our loyalties and it's not an entirely smooth segue. However, even the most bloodthirsty of us must admit at some point that, as much as we sympathize with Butler's feelings, we cannot sympathize with his actions. Moral integrity must prevail. And so there is a shift in the moral spectrum. At first we have the righteous anger of Butler and the jaded ambitions of Foxx; but, in the end, we realize that Butler has gone over the brink in his quest for justice and we see Foxx's character go through growth, too. It's a tribute to the film that this kind of character development is present. It's not a perfect film, but it's a damn good one and one that makes a fine effort at doing a little transcending of its genre.
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AUTHOR: Upchuck Undergrind
Upchuck Undergrind listens to a little bit of a lot of things - just note the eclecticism of his reviews. He also reads voraciously and loves movies. He is a very open-minded Episcopalian (and student of Buddhism and Hinduism) who thinks Slayer is one of the greatest metal bands. Ever. In addition to his work with Corazine - for which he has written since its inception (he is a Fishcomcollective veteran) - he also writes for DJFix.com.