In
Law Abiding Citizen the basic storyline of this film involves a
Philadelphia engineer named Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) who has
witnessed up close the brutal murdering of his wife of ten years and
young daughter who is approximately 6 or 7. Soon after the ones
responsible are caught, it appears that the D.A. Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx)
only has circumstantial evidence due to improper procedure during the
case. To avoid the taint of his detective reputation he comes up with
the solution of proposing a deal with one of the murderers, planning to
convince him to testify against his partner, resulting in the death
penalty for the minor suspect in the case. Once Shelton finds out about
this, he is dissatisfied with the outcome of this situation, which is
having the actual killer released into freedom. As this controversy
passes, Shelton has relentless plans for the future involving clever
actions and murder. Once ten years pass he puts his master plan into
action giving Rice suspicions to stop Shelton only to find out that he
is always one step ahead of everyone. I personally enjoyed this film
because of its unexpected plot twists and suspense, but the ending also
brought a little disappointment.
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One of the many things I enjoyed and appreciated about this film would have to be the main plot and story line. As the course of this film moves along the director takes us deeper and deeper into the captivating mind of Clyde Shelton. The whole story line included unexpected twists and turns giving viewers the suspense of no telling when something thrilling will happen considering the fact that Shelton is "supposedly" behind bars. I also find the director's sense of momentum interesting. During the movie, the plot just keeps rising in excitement until finally reaching the ultimate climax, but at the same time it also makes you think. The thoughts that occurred to me were basic: "how is this happening if he's in another place?". It gives viewers chances to refer back to previous chapters of the film.
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Aside from the whole film there was one flaw I did consider. The ending to me was a bit disappointing. For spoiler reasons I will try my best to not hint away the ending. After finishing the film and distinguishing good guy from bad guy, I felt that there was a lack of poetic justice in the ending of the story line. Clyde Shelton had many clever and dynamic parts throughout the movie but the ending let the illusion of him being a mastermind die down.
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In this film I personally think that each character was cast well according to what role they individually played. I would like to focus on the main character Clyde Shelton who was impressively played by Gerard Butler. In this film Clyde Shelton is portrayed as an intelligent, relentless mastermind who will stop at nothing until justice is met to his specific standards, even if it involves the brutality of his endless planning and gruesome murdering of guilty and innocent people. At times his character can become quite questionable due to the fact that there is a thin line between good and bad guy. This may give audience members the conflict of thinking his character can be portrayed as a monster or a good guy gaining an attempt at fair justice.
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Overall
I really did enjoy and appreciate the director's stylings of suspense,
plot twists, and ability to make viewers think. This film was an
excellent portrayal of fair and unfair justice. I highly recommend this
film to viewers with interest in attention to detail, thrill, and
breathtaking moments. It honestly is phenomenal piece of work. My
overall rating of this movie would be 4.7 stars due to its spectacular
story line.
