Review of Law Abiding Citizen (2009) by Geoff T — 20 Jan 2012

I absolutely know I am in the minority with this review. Four stars for a movie most critics deem "diverting garbage" or "repugnant" but this movie rocked. Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler were absolutely stunning. I read these "top critic reviews" and truthfully I am disgusted. Unless they were sleeping through the critical scenes of the movie (which for the information of all was just about the entire movie) they missed the big themes and the driving motifs that all but appear to have gone right over their heads. I am generalizing of course. There were some critics, and most of the "general tomato" public that enjoyed this movie. But where to begin?

1. The action.

Good gosh the action in this movie is fun, it's fresh (while at the same time raw) and is just all around fun. Not only is this movie considered Suspense and Drama, but I would stick it up with Thriller as well. The twists, the turns while sometimes being predictable, other times hit you like a sack of potatoes. But let's move on.

2. The actors.

You know I can't say enough about Butler and Foxx in this one. I loved both performances from a technical standpoint and I was ultimately glued to Butler as a character.

___SPOILER ALERT___.

Even as he systematically killed off people, some of which may or may not have deserved it depending on who you ask I felt myself growing more and more attached to him. Maybe that makes me a nut case or maybe that sides me with some deeper meanings and deeper morals that Butler's character is trying to go for. We have this glimpse into the justice system that we all see from time to time and how one man, one single individual has the power to bring it down--maybe.

___END SPOILER___.

3. The movie itself.

And I guess this is where I take the star and a half away from it. You take themes, motifs, morals, ideals and a direction and you casually drift toward your goals and the conclusion to the movie. I think Gray misfired with this movie. He had a ton of room, the money to do it, a freaking cast of characters that could handle the toughest and he fell short in key areas. Character interactions were sometimes rough around the edges or not explored, the Clyde character was not delve into, we are thrown random police officers with no context to name but a few of the miscues. Now this is a dig against the movie yes, but it is not a dig against the performance.

4. My biggest "UGH" moment: The ending.

Ooh did the ending piss me off. You root and root for a hero who has blood on his clothes. A hero who in any other movie would be considered an absolute villain. A hero who is willing to do what nobody else can or will do in order to not only get his point across, but to reach some "greater good" determined by his philosophies. You take this "main character" and you just end it. I won't give up too much. I will just stay firm in my belief that the ending took the movie down a peg for me. It hurt, I enjoyed the entire 1 hr 45 minutes prior to be absolutely disgusted and threw my phone into the couch after watching those last three minutes. But I digress.

Writing my review after watching the movie for the second time has been a good tool for giving the review itself some depth. In the end I rated it out to a 4. I was bouncing back between 3.5 and 4 but decided evening with the miscues and the botched ending this movie was top class. It did good all through high school but decided to slack in its senior year. But in the end my word is this.

Watch this movie. Not with your mother or your sisters or any other easily upset friend to graphic violence or details. Maybe your girlfriend though. ;).

4 out of 5.