Law Abiding Citizen   Starring: Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx Momentum Pictures RRP: £19.99 MP1002D Certificate: 18 Available 12 April 2010

After his wife and child are killed, Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is appalled at the legal system for the way they handle the killer case; so appalled that he decides that they need a lesson in justice. Although he is imprisoned for murder, and then placed in solitary confinement for the subsequent murder of his cellmate, he still appears to be able to murder at will, Can Nick Rice discover how this is possible before the body count rises too high...?

Law Abiding Citizen (2009) is a thriller written by Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium (2002), Ultraviolet (2006) and directed by F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job (2003). The film was nominated for three awards.

The film has only one central idea, that of trying to stop a man from killing when you already have him in custody. As a hook to hang a film on this is one of the more interesting ones. Our protagonist, played very convincingly by Gerard Butler, is so appalled by the plea bargaining and politics of the court system, especially as it allowed one of his families killers to seemingly walk free, with only a light sentence, that he decides to teach the young prosecutor, Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx), a lesson.

After ten years pass Shelton reappears and kills one of the defendants. He seems unmoved by the idea of going to prison and issues a stark warning to Rice to either fix the justice system or watch everyone involved in his wife’s murder trial eliminated. Initially Rice is sympathetic but unimpressed with Shelton’s threats until people really do start to die.

The film is really a two-hander with most of the scenes being between Rice and Shelton, therefore its success or failure depended on the acting ability of Foxx and Butler. Their first couple of scenes, as distraught husband turned killer facing off against a district attorney who as a good man is trying to pursue justice in the only way he can, work really well - sympathies alternate between the two characters.

It is only when Shelton goes on his killing spree, apparently from behind the locked doors of his solitary confinement cells, that the film unravels a bit. Especially the reveal as to how he was carrying out the murders just struck me as unrealistic and pretty preposterous as an idea.

Still, the two main leads hold the screen well enough and for the most part this is a gripping thriller, apart from the silly ending.

The disc contains some reasonable extras kicking off with The Justice of Law Abiding Citizen (6 min, 15 sec) which discusses the concept of the film, Law In Black And White - Behind The Scenes (15 min, 06 sec) has some footage of the film being made, which also covers some of the decision which were made in making the film. Preliminary Arguments - Visual Effects Progressions (6 min, 42 sec) which looks at some of the special effects work in the film. The final two extras are The Verdict - Winning Trailer Mash up (1 min) and the final theatrical Trailer (2 min, 26 sec).

7

Charles Packer