Law Abiding Citizen

 


 

Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is a devoted and loving family man, an ordinary person in every respect, until one fine day his world falls apart - two criminals break into his home and kill his wife and daughter.

Because of a technical and legal mess and in spite of Clyde's vehement objections, the prosecutor makes a deal with one of the criminals, the one whose part in the crime was actually larger, and he is sentenced to a short prison term while the other is sentenced to death. The prosecutor is convinced the deal was justified, because partial justice is better that no justice.

10 years later something goes wrong during the condemned criminal's execution, and it turns out that someone sabotaged the triple injection system in order to the make the criminal's death a lot more painful. Shortly afterwards the dismembered body of the other criminal is discovered.

Suspicion immediately falls on Clyde and when they come to arrest him, he offers no resistance. But from there things just get complicated and a vicious game of cat and mouse begins between Clyde and the prosecutor who made the deal with the criminals. It starts with the prosecutor's family receiving a video tape documenting the barbaric killing of the second criminal, continues with various sundry deals Clyde makes with the prosecutor, any breach of which is brutally punished, since meanwhile Clyde has acquired the knowledge of law necessary to maneuver the system, and people start dying - the lawyer of criminals, Clyde's cell mate (who has done him no wrong), the original trial judge, the prosecutor's young assistant (who was not involved in the original trial) and the prosecutor's boss (veteran actor Bruce McGill). Meanwhile, the truth about Clyde's past and true nature is revealed, but not before he manages to impose a reign of terror in the city.

Except for the attempt to say something about the blight of plea bargains which has spread in the American justice system (at least this time we were spared a jury trial). It's somewhat unclear to me why after ten years, when the prosecutor (by his own words) had forgotten the name of the other criminal, he was the first suspect in the death of his partner, and the next one was the husband (a gun hanging on the wall in the first act – he is an inventor, the prosecutor did remember that...), just like it's not clear why Clyde did not kill the other criminal as soon as he was released from jail; I was bothered by the fact that they didn't save a few of those surprises for the end of the movie, but it was probably done on purpose. And what's a DA doing chasing a criminal with only one police officer (Colm Meaney, the formerredheaded star of "Star Trek")? But in spite of all this, the end was rather tight and suspenseful - retching - a surprising turn leading to an upset just as surprising. I will not tell, in the interest of avoiding any spoilers.

Gerard Butler has yet to make up his mind what he wants to be – a muscled action actor or a sloppy romantic comedy actor. I don't really like Jamie Foxx in serious dramatic roles - (see "Collateral").

Overall, a suspenseful Movie, well worth watching.