The trailers for Law Abiding Citizen made it look like an exciting action thriller, but it’s actually a lethargic revenge fantasy, one that expects us to buy macho man Gerard Butler as an ingenious mastermind.
Butler is the title guy, an enraged engineer who, ten years after witnessing the murder of his wife and daughter, and then watching one of the killers walk free thanks to a slick assistant DA (Jamie Foxx), gets himself locked up on purpose so he can stick it to Foxx and the American judicial system.
The main mystery of how Butler manages to make good on his various threats while behind bars is not a bad one and did keep me guessing. As well the actual carnage he creates–cars exploding in a parking lot, a missile taking out an SUV in a cemetery, a cool slo-mo explosion inside a prison cell–gives the film sorely needed urgency and tension.
Because the thing just lumbers along, which is surprising given that director F. Gary Gray also made The Negotiator and the 2003 remake of The Italian Job and so knows how to craft tight, efficient thrillers. Even the tête-à-têtes between Butler and Foxx fail to pop, although for that one could also blame the stale screenplay slapped together by Kurt Wimmer (Equilibrium).
And while Butler fakes anguish well enough, he’s never convincing as a Jigsaw-like brainiac. He simply looks and sounds too much like an alpha male. We even see him shirtless at one point. Foxx fares better, but then strutting around in expensive-looking suits is probably not a stretch for him. Viola Davis, so good in Doubt, utters lots of laughable lines as the mayor of Philadelphia.
What’s more, the revelation of how Butler is able to accomplish his grisly objectives is utterly preposterous. So is the astonishing speed with which Foxx conjures up his own (admittedly clever) plan to stop Butler. Alas, the best that can really be said about the movie, to paraphrase Foxx’s lawyerly reasoning, is that some explosions are better than none at all. – [DVD]
Crime/Drama/Thriller
Rated R
DVD Release Date: 2/16/10