
What I’ve discovered is that Gerard Butler (300, ROCKNROLLA) is rapidly becoming a new favorite actor of mine. What Nick Cave and everyone involved with Clyde’s case soon realize, is that they’ve just become pieces of an elaborate statement by Clyde Shelton, a lesson is ethics and morals and the lack thereof within the legal system. This sparks an investigation of who could have sabotaged the system. With Clyde’s family dead, he relies on prosecutor Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) to make the justice system work and give him some tiny bit of closure in the matter, but what he finds instead is proof of just how corrupt the system is when Nick makes a deal with the man who killed his family, granting him a relatively easy 3-5 years in prison on a charge of third-degree murder in exchange for testifying against his partner.įlash forward ten years, Nick Rice has moved on to a bigger, brighter career as a prosecutor with a 96% conviction rate, but when the man sent to death row for the murder of Clyde’s family receives his lethal injection, what is supposed to be a painless, human death sentence becomes a brutally vivid display of excruciating pain. The main character, Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler), is spending an evening at home with his wife and daughter when unexpected company arrives and in a matter of moments, destroys everything Clyde had to live for. Gary Gray (FRIDAY, A MAN APART, BE COOL) and opens with a teeth-clenching down note that inspires anger and sympathy towards the Clyde’s situation immediately. The story makes it difficult to fully take one side or the other, painting the ambiguous nature of our imperfect legal system in endless shades of gray. Not since FRACTURE, starring Anthony Hopkins, have I felt this engrossed by a legal cat-and-mouse thriller. Rated R for strong bloody brutal violence and torture, a scene of rape, and pervasive language.LAW ABIDING CITIZEN is a smart, tense thriller that keeps the audience at the edge of their seats and keeps us guessing. It’s more than worth the time and the money — it’s a steal! This film is a need-to-see for suspense/drama/thriller fans. I gave Law Abiding Citizen a 4 for its excellence and its fine compilation of cinematic concepts.
#Gerard butler law abiding citizen movie#
Gary Gray is possibly a director with the potential to break barriers and make strides in the movie industry that I for one, have been waiting a long time to see. This is one of those films with a story good enough to leave you wanting more, but an ending tight enough to wonder if there could be…į. Law Abiding Citizen is slick and polished with a great script, an engaging cast, first-rate production quality, and a pace with a twist that will leave you breathless. Law Abiding Citizen can trace its roots far back into filmmaking history, but this clever new concoction turns many of its ancestors on their ears.


And fortunately for this film, while true movie fans will most likely recognize all of these best practices and know from whence they came, they will also appreciate their incorporation into this prime example of everything a psychologically motivated, taut suspense-thriller should be. Law Abiding Citizen is an outstanding amalgamation of best practices gleaned from some of it finest predecessors.
