Law Abiding Citizen

"It's not what you know Clive, it's what you can prove in court".

Action/thriller filmmaking doesn't get much more typical than this manipulative and cynical piece of grandstanding. Law Abiding Citizen is a shamelessly brutal look at the failure of America's modern legal system that makes Cape Fear look quite restrained and reasonable by comparison. I have to say that I found a lot of this film quite objectionable, the muddled messages it tries to get across seem downright exploitative of the more ignorant sectors of working class opinion. It's the sort of ideologically immature filmmaking that a website like Things Bogan Like might brand 'the thinking bogan's wet dream'. I guess I'm part of that put-upon demographic because I found myself downright confused by who was meant to be the hero and who was meant to be the villain. This isn't my only problem with this film either, but I'll go through the issues one by one.

The premise of Law Abiding Citizen is that Clyde (Gerard Butler) is an ordinary man pushed beyond breaking point after his family is raped and murdered in front of him in an inexplicably random manner. His lawyer, Nick (Jamie Foxx) is so self-serving that he takes a slap-on-the-wrist deal that sees the murderer walk free, just so he can maintain his perfect record of convictions. Clyde is horrified, and bides his time before kidnapping and torturing the killer to death on camera. Clyde has planned this action out so completely that his subsequent capture and imprisonment does nothing to stop a chain of events that sees the whole city's justice department at the mercy of his vindicative and all-encompassing quest for revenge. It's soon up to Nick to unravel Clyde's intricate masterplan before everyone he knows and loves is dead.



So who is the hero here? Clyde, a man who loses his wife and daughter in the worst way possible and is then sent insane after his lawyer stabs him in the back? Or the dodgy lawyer who remains unrepetent about failing to prosecute a child-molesting, home invading murderer in the way that his client wanted? I can handle a film that works as an indictment of the legal system, and the vigilante angle is a staple of many classic films (Straw Dogs, The Virgin Spring, Death Wish), but when Clyde goes after the entire justice department in order to teach a lesson to people who are barely even connected to his tragedy then it becomes a question of taste. The film takes Clyde's vengeane so far that we're forced to side with the slippery lawyer, who becomes the film's actual hero by contrast - though the viewer (in this case, me) never really feels this to be truly the case.



Law Abiding Citizen demonstrates how we (and films) have come to a point where we can accept a brutal murderer as a sympathic hero. Using the right circusmtances, and by pushing all the right buttons, Clyde is the one we initially cheer for. There are people who will watch this film and they will pick a side - the lawyer's side or Clyde's side. I don't think I'd be comfortable with anyone picking either side to be honest! And that's why I think it's offensive and exploitative, it panders to people in the one-sided fashion that characterises the worst aspects of our mass media.



My other major problem with the film is Clyde himself. By virtue of the fact that he's an ordinary 'law abiding citizen', the film uses him to create a sympathetic monster of sorts. It then stretches credibility to have him able to plan so far beyond reason though... it's an immature writing choice. It's like the writers watched Seven and thought, "you know what would be cool? If we had someone who was even more of a super-planner than that guy!" It's just not believable. And then the film sacrifices this angle of the 'ordinary' man by giving him this 'cool' superspy background. WTF? What are the odds that a random home invasion/rape/murder would happen to this guy? And why would a CIA 'superman' A) let the legal system have control of the situation in the first place, and B) be failed by the legal system so thoroughly if he's a part of law enforcement itself. Would he be really be that naive to put all his trust in a lawyer? Wouldn't the CIA pull strings for him?



Overall, it's just over the top and too full of holes. If you're 16 years old and think that extreme and vaguely justified violence is the coolest thing ever, then you will probably love this movie. The main person I feel sorry for is Gerard Butler, he's almost nearly always better than the film he tends to get cast in, and this film is no exception.



DIRECTOR: F. Gary Gray

WRITER/SOURCE: Kurt Wimmer

KEY ACTORS: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Bruce McGill, Colm Meaney, Leslie Bibb, Michael Irby, Regina Hall



RELATED TEXTS:

- Modern battle of wits/revenge thrillers: Fracture, Changing Lanes, Taken, Man on Fire.

- More Gerard Butler action films: Machine Gun Preacher and Gamer.