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$14.49 - Law Abiding Citizen
Product DescriptionClyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is 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. Fast forward ten years. The man who got away with murder is found dead and Clyde Shelton admits his guilt. Then he issues a warning to Nick: Either fix the flawed justice system, or key players in the trial will die. Soon Shelton follows through on his threats, orchestrating from his jail cell a string of spectacularly diabolical assassinations that can be neither predicted nor prevented. Only Nick can stop the killing and finds himself in a desperate race against time facing a deadly adversary who seems always to be one step ahead.
The legal thriller meets the serial-killer shocker in Law Abiding Citizen. The story begins when home invaders kill Clyde Shelton's wife and daughter. The bereaved father (played by a thoroughly unsympathetic Gerard Butler) looks to slick Philly prosecutor Nick Rice (a low-key Jamie Foxx) to see that they receive the maximum sentence. Instead, the murderer, Ames, testifies against his accomplice, Darby, who gets the chair, while he gets 10 years. Upon his release, Ames' mutilated body turns up in an abandoned warehouse, and all roads lead to Shelton. Rice attempts to defend him, but his client makes it impossible--Shelton wants to go to prison--so he does time, but then members of Rice’s legal team start to die. The attorney suspects Shelton, but can't connect him to the crimes, so he races against the clock to save the lives of his assistant, Sarah (Leslie Bibb), D.A. Jonas (Bruce McGill), and his own wife and child. The movie may sound like a Yank reboot of the Japanese chiller Cure, in which an inmate kills from inside institutional walls, but plays more like a mash-up between The Silence of the Lambs, without the psychological complexity, and The Devil's Advocate, without the cynical giggles. F. Gary Gray got his start with hip-hop videos and urban action flicks, like Set It Off, until he hit the big time with his remake of The Italian Job. Law Abiding Citizen is a disappointing muddle from a director who's done better in the past and will surely do better in the future. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from Law Abiding Citizen (Click for larger image)
Most Recent Customer ReviewsDate : 2010-03-19
Summary : Why this is fantasy and not real life...
"Law Abiding Citizen" is full of surprises from the get-go. Director Gary Gray immediately shows the crime in the opening segment. There is no doubt about the killers or what they have done. The husband (played by handsome Gerard Butler) is the living eyewitness to the crime: his wife and daughter are viciously murdered during a house invasion. He is left to die.
Then come the opening credits. Ten years later Jamie Foxx (the assistant district attorney) has made a deal for one murderer to turn on the other to get at least one lethal injection, although the actual murderer is the one who turns. Clyde Shelton (Butler) has patiently waited for justice--as he is a law-abiding citizen. Yet the Fox move to put his wins up to 96% riles the moral marrow of Shelton's bones. Where is justice? What kind of legal system do we have? The viewer knows there are deals, dismissals, too much protective rights for criminals and not enough for victims. Justice begins to show her vigilante face. The turncoat dies viciously.
So far the movie is believable. Viewers can even identify with the methods of vigilantism. Right is right (even when it is wrong). When the line goes far beyond blur to a reverse perversion, I, a whopping big Butler fan, must cry foul.
Then the viewer learns the nature of Butler's work (not to be revealed here). Things make sense now. Law abiding? From whose viewpoint? Can justice be validated under such circumstances? Does Foxx play fair when he makes deals. He justifies his actions--and reasonably well. Granted, he follows the letter of the law, but what about that moral marrow?
The question slips from the nature of justice to address the two men: Who is right? Who is wrong? Can a line be drawn in this circumstance? Ultimately, "Law Abiding Citizen" addresses the serious flaws in our justice system. The method may be beyond the Pale and in the realm of fantasy (method not to be revealed here), but this vehicle of thought provokes! It is obvious why the two lead actors chose their roles--to be part of an ongoing discussion of the nature of justice and how it can be obtained in a flawed society run by flawed people.
Law Abiding Citizen. Even the title is provocative.
Date : 2010-03-19
Summary : It Got Me
I really like Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx, but both of them make some dicey choices on occasion when it comes to film roles, so I was hopeful, but skeptical going in. Overall, I thought it was really entertaining and had great momentum, and Butler makes a great Bad Guy. I hate to admit it, but they also got me with the surprise ending, which I completely kicked myself for later--duh! My only issue was with the graphic revenge plan Butler's character plays out, which I felt was a little over-the top.
Date : 2010-03-19
Summary : Great Movie!!
I thought the movie was great!! I would liked to have seen a different ending, even if it had been a special feature. I agree with a lot of the other reviews, the bad guy should have won in this movie.
Date : 2010-03-18
Summary : Action thriller
This is one of those movies where it's hard to tell the "good guys" from the "bad guys". Suspense filled, it will keep you wondering, even when you think you have it all figured out!
Date : 2010-03-18
Summary : Action Movie
I bought this movie after having watch it on the big screen and knew i had to have this as a collectors item, it has a lot of action and suspense and it really had me wondering through the entire show and the ending was unexpected... really great movie action from start to finish,...its a five star in my books
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