Darkly Satisfying Citizen a Nasty Guilty Pleasure
Ten years after the murder of his wife and child, inventor Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) sets in motion a plan to punish the criminal justice system he feels failed his family. Starting with the killers themselves, one of whom was already on death row, and then proceeding to those in charge at the time of the case, he systematically begins to inventively take them out one after one. It is up to Assistant District Attorney Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) to put a stop to him before the entire Philadelphia judicial framework crumbles, the two engaging in a cat and mouse game both want to win.
Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler spar in Overture Films' Law Abiding Citizen
The fly in the ointment? Shelton is doing the majority of his killing from behind bars, stopping him going to be difficult when the man everyone knows is responsible is already right where law enforcement wants him.
Before the promotional screening of director F. Gary Gray’s (The Italian Job) latest thriller Law Abiding Citizen a bunch of friends and I were having a discussion about what exactly constitutes a ‘guilty pleasure.’ What we finally, and somewhat reluctantly, settled upon was a definition revolving around a movie you were either embarrassed to admit you liked or a film that you knew just wasn’t very good but you enjoyed anyhow. Not very controversial or groundbreaking, true, but it worked well enough for us, and while the debate raged about which films fit the bill the definition itself we felt we had covered.
I bring this up because Law Abiding Citizen is the epitome of a guilty pleasure. Writer Kurt Wimmer’s (Ultraviolet, Street Kings) screenplay is certifiably absurd, filled with so much in the way of illogical idiocies they almost approach World Record status. The dialogue is earnest and preachy, the action stopping cold time and time again for silly discussions about the rule of law and the ways in which governments subvert it. It's just plain stupid, saying anthing otherwise not even close to a possibility.
And yet, this movie proves to be one heck of a lot of down and dirty fun. Reveling in the gruesome machinations of its antihero, delighting in each character’s gratuitous demise, Gray and his team of craftsmen pushed a great many of my psychological buttons. They go out of their way to make Shelton’s despicable behavior worth cheering for, and even though I knew better I couldn't help doing exactly that.
It helps immensely that roles like this are ones 300 star Butler was born to play. In my opinion, he should stop trying to become a romantic comedy king (The Ugly Truth) or a weepy figure in melodramatic tearjerkers (P.S. I Love You) and stick to roles like this. He was one of the best things about Guy Ritchie’s forgettable RocknRolla and he was outstanding in the little seen Beowulf & Grendel, and while his work here hardly stretches the actor’s ability that doesn’t mean he is any less wonderful.
The simple fact is that without him I doubt I’d be giving this film a recommendation, but like Kurt Russell’s Snake Plisken or Mel Gibson’s Max Rockatansky his Clyde Shelton is magnetic killing machine who held me captivated. When he states proudly his next play for retribution is going to be biblical I practically couldn’t contain my glee, hoping to discover his attempts to bring the system he despises to its knees would live up to my building anticipation.
It doesn’t, of course, and the way things must ultimately come to an end are something of a forgone conclusion. I also don’t think it is particularly helpful that Rice, while suitably flawed and a bit of an egotist, is so self-righteous and prone to longwinded speechifying he's ultimately a bit of a drag. After a while I didn’t want to see him breakdown and have an emotional hissy-fit every time another one of his colleagues bit the dust, and while his third act turn towards the dark side is believable, none of it was altogether satisfying.
Maybe it was the mood I was in. Maybe I have a morbid sadomasochistic streak I never realized was there. Maybe I just like seeing a good guy go bad with such spectacular malevolence. Whatever the reason, even with its flaws and Gray’s penchant for trying to sermonize I had a grand time watching Law Abiding Citizen. It is a nasty and morally bankrupt piece of work, true, but it is also incredibly entertaining, and as far guilty pleasures go I think this might be at the top of my 2009 list.
Film Rating: êê1/2 (out of 4)
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