Law Abiding Citizen

J: Is “Law Abiding Citizen” the movie of the year? No. Is it even my favorite movie of 2009? No. But what Law Abiding Citizen is, is a good serviceable action flick with a nice twist that doesn’t give itself away halfway through the movie. And that works very well for me.

Granted, it does require some suspension of disbelief. But so did that small screen abomination “Lost” and most of the time nothing happened – yet people flocked to that trifle. At least the action in Law Abiding Citizen keeps up a neat pace and I was able to buy into the premise without much thought. And maybe that’s the problem. It seems these days, critics (this Faithful Duo excepted, of course) go to see every movie expecting deep and moving pathos, and Oscar winning drama. It doesn’t always need to happen that way – sometimes we should just sit back and enjoy ourselves. And my PIC and I did just that – despite the old farts sitting next to us that couldn’t keep their dentures snapped shut!

Ok, to the movie. Law Abiding Citizen stars Gerard Butler as Clyde Shelton, who in the first scene loses his wife and child in a brutal attack, the reason for which is never really explained, but I can live with that. Enter Jamie Foxx as Nick Rice, the DA who makes a plea deal rather than risk his conviction record. Of course, that means the real killer/rapist goes relatively free while the reasonably innocent guy gets executed. Goes without saying that it cheeses Clyde off a bit. Time passes and the execution is about to take place – however, it goes horribly wrong. And this is when the fun begins.

You see, Clyde is a former spy-cum-genius of whom it is said “if Clyde wants you dead, you’re dead!” Well! And so, as Clyde gets sort of even and teaches the legal system a lesson (his avowed reason for the mayhem – not vengeance) about justice, an assortment of very Saw-like deaths occur – even as Clyde sits in his solitary confinement cell in a Philly jail. He has had 10 years to plan and tinker, and he used them extremely well. For those moralists out there, the villains do get their come-uppance in the end, so don’t worry about the possibility of there being no moral to the story. And for those of you to whom it matters (like my PIC and myself) there is a high eye-candy factor. Yeah, who is this Gerard Butler guy, anyway? Yes, that was a rhetorical question. But seriously, he is an accomplished actor, extremely easy on the eyes and he produced this movie. Yes, Sir – may I have another!

So, want to munch some popcorn and be entertained for a couple hours? Then please go see Law Abiding Citizen, you’ll enjoy it – I promise.

K: Yes, I agree with my PIC that you will enjoy this movie - except if you sit next to those same old farts we were sitting next to. They were both deaf and the woman was stupid. She couldn't follow the plot (which wasn't difficult at all) and he had to explain e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g to her. They also had a few conversations about their hot pretzel, their straw situation, and other food related topics. But I digress.

I think some people have the impression that action films are all special effects and no substance. While this is sadly true for some films in this genre, it is not the case with this movie. It wasn't all explosions and car chases with no real point. Everything that happened had a purpose. We were following a man who felt the justice system had failed him, and who was trying to exploit its defects to incite change. I thought this was very well done. And Gerard Butler is easy on the eyes. *snicker ,snicker*

So in summary, go see this film and please don't talk excessively in movie theaters. Thank you.