SYNOPSIS:
Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is an upstanding family man whose wife and daughter are brutally murdered during a home invasion. When the killers are caught, Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx), a hotshot Philadelphia prosecutor, is assigned to the case. Nick offers one of the suspects a light sentence in exchange for testifying against his accomplice.
Fast forward ten years. The man who got away with murder is found dead and
Clyde Shelton coolly admits his guilt. Then he issues a warning to Nick: Either fix the flawed justice system that failed his family, or key players in the trial will die.
MOVIE REVIEW:
From the trailer, Law Abiding Citizen looked
like it was going to be one exciting one up showmanship between
Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler. For most parts of the movie,
the turn of events were gripping and engaging. Clyde Shelton
(Gerard Butler) just witnessed the brutal slaying of his family
and couldn't get closure as the guilty one was left off the
hook due to the flawed justice system. Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx)
is the prosecutor who made a deal with the guilty to close
the case. For Clyde, it wasn't justice and if it happened
to any other ordinary guys, he would probably accept it as
his fate.
But
it turned out that Clyde Shelton wasn't your ordinary guy.
He is a guy who is capable of stuffs that any terrorist would
dream off. He is pissed and decided to unleash his brand of
justice against the murderer and all those who were involved
with flawed justice system, especially Nick Rice.
What
made it more impressive was that Clyde surrendered and 'admitted'
to his crimes early on in the movie and yet all those involved,
including Nick are getting their 'comeuppance' while Clyde
was being held captive in a prison.
It
was fun and entertaining until the movie let the secret out
of the bag. The statements and issues that the movie had been
establishing required some balls to close out and Law Abiding
Citizen abide in your usual Hollywood blockbusters formula
to give us a safe and generally accepted endings. The secret
to Clyde's mayhem was so dull and contradictory to what had
been established in his character that it's really hard to
feel surprised or satisfied at the closure. What made it worse
was that it doesn't seems that Nick Rice had learned any lesson
in this whole mess that he had inadvertently 'helped' created.
The unsatisfactory of revelation at the end soon inspired
outside the box thinking and it brought up numerous loopholes
and incoherency that this film is filled with.
For examples, If Clyde was such a great tactician
that the movie made him out to be, why didn't he safeguard
his secrets in ways that he would be aware if anyone discovered
it or at least lay some deadly traps. It made one starts to
question Clyde's action to correct the flawed system. It was
fun to see those who were directly involved with trial getting
their comeuppance but once the innocents were getting hurt
along the way, it started to make Clyde a horrible terrorist
instead and it was hard to standby his actions.
Bottom
line is that Law Abiding Citizen had a good start but started
to falter at it's revelation. The weak twist in the end was
just not satisfying for the intense build up. It even makes
one ponder and question about the characters' motive and coherency
of the movie which inadvertently bring out more loopholes
and issues of this movie's failing.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
NIL
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Since
Law Abiding Citizen mainly contains intense dialogues between
the two stars, the audio aspect is adequately produced by
this disc. There's also no visual problems noticed while playback
on a TV.
MOVIE RATING:
 
DVD
RATING:
Review by Richard Lim Jr
Posted on 13 April 2010
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