Review #1

Title: Law Abiding Citizen
Year: 2009
Director: F. Gary Gray
Country: USA
BBFC: 18

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ : 7/10

Law Abiding Citizen was a very good film, unlike your usual thriller of just a cop chasing a criminal this one has the added sense of mystery. It really keeps you on the edge of your seat because its unclear what the destiny of the next character is, will he live or will he die a slow and painful death. Just to make a point, this film isn't for the faint-hearted due to the excessive amounts of gore in certain scenes, particularly the torture scene near the beginning. If you are just trying to watch a good film mainly focusing on the plot then you can probably push the instances of gore aside because the plot of this film is extremely unique and clever.

Clyde (Gerard Butler) witnesses the murder of his wife and daughter. The two murderers, Clarence and Rupert, are caught and sent to a trial. During their trial, their prosecutor Nick (Jamie Foxx) tells Clyde that the evidence against the murderers is "inadmissible", however Nick strikes a deal with Clarence that will send Rupert to death row. From this outcome Clyde feels betrayed by Nick and the entire court system. Rupert is later executed via lethal injection, however someone switched the drugs around causing Rupert to die a slow and agonising death. Clarence is suspected of the murder, however Clyde helps him escape the grasps of the law enforcement, only then to drug him with a neurotoxin via some needles in a gun handle that are activated when the trigger is pulled. Whilst Clarence is under the influence of the neurotoxin, Clyde slowly tortures him. When the police find whats left of the body they arrest Clyde as the chief suspect, Clyde then confesses to the murders of both Clarence and Rupert. Shortly afterwards Nick learns that Clyde had kidnapped Clarence's attorney and hidden him somewhere and will only reveal the location in return for a hot meal at 1 o'clock on the dot. However the meal arrives past the deadline resulting in the police arriving too late to rescue the attorney, meanwhile Clyde murders his cellmate by stabbing him in the neck with a steak bone and is therefore sent to solitary confinement. Slowly Nick learns that Clyde used to be a black ops assassin in which experience he utilizes to murder the judge, several members of the police squad and the district attorney. Nick wonders how Clyde has been killing the justice members whilst in jail but shortly discovers a tunnel from an outdoor garage leading all the way into his solitary confinement cell that he dug before he was arrested, he deliberately killed his cell mate so he could be moved to solitary confinement so he could get out to kill the justice system. Clyde then plans to kill the mayor and Nick discovers a napalm bomb at the city hall, however they are unable to disarm it. When Clyde returns to his cell, Nick is already waiting there for him, he tells him not to press the detonator and strikes one last deal but Clyde refuses and presses the button, Nick leaves the cell only for Clyde to find out that whilst he was getting back to jail Nick had moved the bomb from the city hall to Clyde's cell, killing him.

Law Abiding Citizen was a fun film to watch, some people have mixed feelings about the ending whether it was good or bad, it was a relatively good ending because it was something that you weren't expecting and really stamped a strong ending in my opinion, but I can also see why the ending has negative reviews because in the end Clyde was only teaching the people a lesson because he lost everything, but to the extreme he went to was going to suffer consequences. All-in-all a very good film.