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Law
Abiding Citizen is a woefully bad, paint-by-numbers thriller
(essentially Saw 2 minus the "good" bits) which follows Clyde Shelton
(Gerard Butler) as 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 young Philadelphia prosecutor, is assigned to the case.
Over
his objections, Nick is forced by his boss to offer one of the suspects
a light sentence in exchange for testifying against his accomplice.Ten
years on, and the man who got away with murder turns up dead and
Shelton 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".
Cue mind games and gore...
While
Law Abiding Citizen offers up an almost fool-proof set up and enough
twists and turns to deliver a decent popcorn thriller – a barrage
phoned in performances, mixed morals and an after-school-special level
of dialogue delivery overwhelms this poor man's Silence of the Lambs
and shoots the movie into a league of it's own crapness.
The
biggest problem here is Jamie Foxx. Here is a guy that literally lucked
his way onto the A-List courtesy of Ray, and has since decided he
deserves to be there – despite lacking any talent at all.
Every
moment Jamie Foxx is on screen as "Young Hotshot Lawyer #1" seems so
out of place, so forced and cringeworthingly bad. It actually makes you
want to set fire to the screen "Inglorious Basterds : Operation Kino"
style.
Foxx’s opening scenes at "Generic Law School #7" are
out-and-out laughable, with Foxx spurting out lines like they were
intended for a "Lawyering And You : An Educational Supplement" high
school instructional video.
It’s bad... really... really... bad.
Gerard
Butler does his best and (despite having the second most unconvincing
American accent after Sam Worthington in Avatar) gives Law Abiding
Citizen some drive and tension as a crazed father on a warpath.
However,
the major problem here is that Law Abiding Citizen isn’t sure what it
wants to be : a "Stupid but Fun Death Race meets Hostel" vigilante
flick, or an upstanding "Primal Fear meets Silence Of The Lambs"
courtroom thriller.
I’m inclined to believe had Butler taken the
reigns and steered Law Abiding Citzen towards being the Commando
inspired popcorn thrill-ride that it occasionally hints at being then
we might actually have had a decent "fun but dodgy" flick on our hands.
As it stand, Law Abiding Citizen isn’t "So Bad It’s Good"... it’s just Bad. DVD Special Features
Far too much is on offer here - I don't expect people to even sit through the entire movie, let alone "DVD Extras".
Included
here are "The Justice of Law Abiding Citizen", "Law in Black and White
- Behind the Scenes", a Theatrical Trailer which makes the movie look a
lot better than it actually is, and an Audio Commentary.
Avoid this DVD at all costs!
Conclusion:
Movie 30% Extras: 65%
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