Law Abiding Citizen

This was another article that I submitted to my class. Sorry about this, guys, but again, I've been really busy with classes and such all month long. I'll try to put more time back into the site soon though. For now, enjoy this.

A thriller is a film that relies mainly on suspense and anticipation to draw in its audience. With all of the attention-grabbing, explosion montages that are dumping out of Tinseltown on what seems to be a daily basis, it’s relieving to watch a film that utilizes genuine plot twisting as it’s primary ingredient. Among every one of those, once in a great while, a film is made that redefines the genre; 2009 saw the release of Law Abiding Citizen, which did just that.

Law Abiding Citizen begins with a very disturbing scene during which the main character, Clyde, who is played by Gerard Butler, loses both his wife and daughter at the hands of two intruders, named Ames and Darby, who seem to have haphazardly selected Clyde’s house for thieving. Both criminals are eventually tried in court where prosecutor, Nick Rice, played by Jamie Foxx, is lacking the necessary hard evidence to secure a solid conviction of both offenders. Rather than put his conviction rate at risk, he strikes up a deal with Darby wherein Darby must plead guilty for crimes that would garner a considerably lesser sentence in exchange for testifying against Ames. As a result, ten years down the road, Ames is on death row while Darby’s sentence is up, despite the fact that Darby was the real killer while Ames merely tagged along. What at first appears to be Clyde’s plot for revenge is soon found to be deceptively simple as it unwinds into small-scale war against the entire American judicial system.

Law Abiding Citizen never tells you who to root for. In the beginning of the film, most audience members assume that Clyde is the good guy. At first he seems as though he may be our heartbroken hero and/or vengeful vigilante when he takes the law into his own hands by arranging the brutally shocking deaths of both Ames and Darby. However, Clyde doesn’t stop there and he carries a personal vendetta against everyone involved with the case, including the system itself and ultimately intends to bring the entire thing down to it’s knees.

What makes this film stand out is it’s remarkable ability to keep the audience guessing. Law Abiding Citizen hardly gives its audience a moment to breathe as it hurtles through it’s complex development. Nothing that Clyde ever does seems to make immediate sense; he’s not a gun-slinging, action star. Rather, he relies on arranging the deaths of his enemies in such a way that he may never even be in the same room as them. He’s a tactician and nothing happens unless he wants it to happen. This further heightens the suspense knowing that death could come at any time for these characters and having to wonder if they’re making intelligent moves or if they’re just playing the part in Clyde’s convoluted game.

The acting in this film, namely that of Gerard Butler, is satisfying to say the least. Butler takes it above and beyond and delivers a performance that’s versatile in of itself. In one scene he’s grieving, heartbroken and pitiful  while in the next he’s intense, dark and sinister. Overall, it’s a great example of incredible acting ability that is just not commonly seen in everyday cinema. The remaining cast is pleasing as well, but no one truly stands out as Butler does.

Classifying this film as a specific genre can be a formidable task. Is it a crime movie? A political thriller? Just a story of revenge? Law Abiding Citizen can accurately be classified as all of the above. Beneath it’s aphotic tale of vengeance lies a deeper message. It asks its audience, what is true justice? It’s nearly parody of our judiciary world as the ones who are meant to uphold the law must learn to break it in order to save lives. It is in this way that Law Abiding Citizen gives the viewer something to chew on even after the credits have stopped scrolling and the silver screen has faded to black.

This is a prime example of an underrated film. Law Abiding Citizen is one of the best thrillers to have been made since The Rear Window and it deserves it’s recognition for that. It’s intelligent, suspenseful, unpredictable and it keeps you on your toes. With all of your run-of-the-mill shoot-em-ups that is Hollywood is gladly using to pollute cinema, with it’s gritty realism and controversial message, Law Abiding Citizen is defined. It doesn’t stop at just “thriller” but rather it is a thriller that is garnished perfectly with drama, intrigue and uniqueness making it a film that no one should miss.