Law Abiding Citizen a blunt and sadistic revenge thriller starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler occasionally pauses from the mayhem to stage a solemn debate about law justice and morality. Mr. Butler playing a family man whose wife and daughter were murdered by thugs feels he was let down by the system which gave one of the thugs a light sentence in exchange for testimony against the other thug who was sentenced to death. Mr. Foxx the prosecutor who made that deal thinks that the system however imperfect did its job.
But really Law Abiding Citizen has about as much to say about real life legal issues as Transformers 2 Revenge of the Fallen had to say about defense policy. And it has less ethical gravity than any three of the Saw movies. Though it sometimes puts on a serious face this movie directed with snarling snappish style by F. Gary Gray The Italian Job wears its preposterousness with a certain pride. Its about the cat-and-mouse game between two very smart guys and its perfectly happy to be as dumb as it wants.
Nick Rice Mr. Foxxs character, is slick and ambitious proud of his 96 percent conviction rate and quite sure that he has the cleverest and coolest person in the room. This does not seem like much of a stretch for Mr. Foxx who is cashing in on his Oscar rather than going after a second one. Mr. Butler, for his part displays a surliness that many in Hollywood seem to mistake for charisma, and suffers the anguish of violent bereavement as if it were an annoying gastrointestinal ailment.
His character Clyde Shelton returns 10 years after the death of his family to tie up some loose ends. He dispatches the thugs willingly goes to prison and starts doing dinner theater Hannibal Lecter for Mr. Foxxs benefit. Some lessons must be learned in blood Clyde declares one of many portentous proverbs that he seems to have learned during his career as a military killing gizmo specialist.
0 Comments