Law Abiding Citizen

Law Abiding Citizen
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	F. Gary Gray
Produced by	Gerard Butler Kurt Wimmer Mark Gill Lucas Foster Alan Siegel
Written by	Kurt Wimmer
Starring	Jamie Foxx Gerard Butler Bruce McGill Colm Meaney Leslie Bibb Michael Irby Regina Hall
Music by	Brian Tyler
Cinematography	Jonathan Sela
Edited by	Tariq Anwar
Production company	The Film Department
Distributed by	Overture Films
Release dates	October 16, 2009 (2009-10-16)
Running time	108 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$53 million[1]
Box office	$126.7 million[2]

Law Abiding Citizen is a 2009 American thriller film directed by F. Gary Gray from a screenplay written by Kurt Wimmer and stars Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler. The film takes place in Philadelphia and tells the story of a man driven to commit multiple murders while targeting not only his family's killer but also a corrupt criminal justice system. Law Abiding Citizen was released theatrically in North America on October 16, 2009.^[3]

The film was nominated for a Saturn Award as the Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film of the year, but lost to Inglourious Basterds, and the film also garnered NAACP Image Awards nominations for both Jamie Foxx (Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture) and F. Gary Gray (Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture).^[4]

Plot

In a 1999 Philadelphia violent home invasion, Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is forced to witness the rape and murder of his wife and young daughter, by Clarence James Darby (Christian Stolte) and his accomplice Rupert Ames (Josh Stewart). Prosecutor Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) is unable to use DNA evidence to securely convict both accused. Unwilling to take a chance on lowering his high and yet unbeaten 96% conviction rate, he chooses to rather make a deal with Darby (the actual murderer), letting him plead guilty to a lesser charge, in return for testifying against Ames. Ames is falsely found guilty of masterminding the break-in and both murders and is sentenced to death. Shelton feels totally betrayed by Rice's actions, as he had pleaded with him not to make the deal and to at least try convict both of them, as he was releasing the worst of the two, the actual killer. Darby serves his shortened sentence and is released just a few years later.

Ten years later, Ames's time on death row is up as he continues protesting his innocence. Unknown to the prosecutors and the witnesses, the cardiotoxic drug that's usually used in executions has been replaced with another drug (Potassium bromide), causing Ames to die an extremely painful death. Evidence relating to tampering with the drug implicates his accomplice Darby. As the police draw near to arrest him, an anonymous caller alerts Darby and offers him a way to escape, directing him to a remote location nearby. Shelton, disguised as a cop, reveals himself as the caller and paralyzes Darby with puffer fish venom. He proceeds to strap Darby to a table, opposite a full-length mirror, and tortures and dismembers him in revenge for killing his wife and daughter. He also video records the entire proceedings. When Darby's remains are found, circumstantial evidence tentatively ties his death to Shelton. Despite knowing the evidence is weak, Shelton surrenders himself into police custody, where he points out the flaws in Rice's case against him. Shelton, knowing Rice will need a confession, baits Rice by telling him he will give a full confession if Rice will get a couple of things for him; the first is to get Shelton a new comfy bed for his cell.

As he leaves the interrogation room, Rice receives a phone call from his wife, and learns that Shelton had sent a copy of the snuff film of Darby's demise to his house, traumatizing his young daughter. He initially refuses to bargain with Shelton in order to get a confession but District Attorney Jonas Cantrell (Bruce McGill) orders Rice to make the deal. In court, Shelton represents himself. He successfully argues that he should be granted bail, citing weak evidence and lack of criminal record but when this is granted, he proceeds to berate the judge for accepting the "bullshit" legal precedents he himself cited and for being too eager to let madmen and murderers back on the street. The judge jails Shelton for contempt of court.

Once in jail, Shelton demands a porterhouse steak lunch be delivered to his cell by a specific time, in return for disclosing where to find Darby's lawyer, who they then discover was reported missing three days earlier. Rice agrees, though the lunch is delayed by a few minutes due to the warden's security measures and their wish. Once he has his meal, Shelton provides a set of coordinates, where Rice and the others find Darby's lawyer. He was buried alive in a crate but suffocated when his air supply ran out minutes earlier. Back at the jail, Shelton invites his cellmate to join him in his steak meal and Shelton then kills him by stabbing him in the neck using the steak's bone. (Deftones' "Engine No, 9" can be heard in the background during the murder.) Upon discovery of the murder, the warden moves Shelton into solitary confinement.

Following a tip, Cantrell arranges a meeting with a CIA contact and takes Rice along. They learn that Shelton had in fact worked with the agency previously as a "brain"; a highly trained agent whose job was creating devices to assassinate people in imaginative ways. Further, they are warned that Shelton has no contacts but is capable of killing anyone he wishes, no matter who they are or where he is. The contact warns them that Shelton does nothing without a reason, and if he's in solitary confinment at the prison, he's there because he wants to be there, and not that they put him there. During a meeting with Rice and Cantrell, the judge that presided over Darby/Ames' case, is killed when she answers her cell phone and it explodes. Shelton demands Rice to drop all charges against him or more people will die - he has until 6:00 am to do so. When Rice again fails to meet the demands, a number of Rice's assistants are killed by car bombs, one of them is Sarah Lowell (Leslie Bibb). Rice immediately moves his family to a safe house. As Rice and Cantrell leave the funeral of Lowell, Cantrell is killed by a weaponized bomb disposal robot operated by an unseen person. The frustrated and ill-tempered mayor (Viola Davis) puts the city under lockdown and promotes Rice to acting District Attorney.

While making a further background check on Shelton, Rice discovers that he used to own an auto garage less than one mile from the prison. Exploring this property, Rice and Detective Dunnigan (Colm Meaney) find an underground tunnel that leads from the garage to a cache of guns, disguises, and other equipment right below the solitary confinement cells. Evidence in the tunnel points Rice to Shelton's next target - city hall, where the mayor is holding an emergency meeting with all the city officials. Rice and his men can't find Shelton, but discover evidence pointing to a cell-phone-activated suitcase bomb in the room directly below the meeting.

Shelton returns to his garage after planting the city hall bomb, then returns to his cell. He is surprised to find Rice waiting for him. Rice states that it is the end of the road for him and he should do the right thing. Shelton convinced that he is doing the right thing but Rice just has to see it that way. But Rice explains that it is not right for murdering all those people and he is causing the same pain that he is suffering from. Shelton suggests another deal, but Rice states that he no longer makes deals with murderers saying Shelton taught him that. Rice pleads him not to detonate that last bomb, to finally do the right thing, or he will have to live with it for the rest of his life. Shelton hesitating but refuses and detonates the bomb. Rice quickly leaves the cell revealing that it was a trick. Shelton discovers the bomb handcuffed to his bed. He sits on his bed pulling out his daughters bracelet and gazing down at it with a look of sadness as the bomb explodes.

Cast

Production

Filming began in August 2008 and took place in and around Philadelphia. Filming locations included Philadelphia's City Hall and the old Eastern State Penitentiary.

The film was edited after being threatened with an NC-17 rating for violence,^[5] with the full version released unrated on Blu-ray.

Soundtrack

The score to Law Abiding Citizen was composed by Brian Tyler, who recorded his score with a 52-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Sony Scoring Stage with help from Kieron Charlesworth.^[6] The movie also uses "Eminence Front" by The Who and "Engine No. 9" by Deftones on Clyde's iPod while he is eating his steak in his cell. While Clyde calls Darby to help him 'escape' the police after Ames' execution, "Bloodline" by Slayer is Darby's ringer. The tune at the end for closing credits is "Sin's A Good Man's Brother" by Grand Funk Railroad.

Release

The film was released theatrically on October 16, 2009.^[7] The first theatrical trailer was released on August 14, 2009 and was attached to District 9.^[8]

The premiere was held on November 15, 2009 at the Cineworld complex in Glasgow - hometown of Gerard Butler. Many British tabloids have labeled this event as the "Homecoming Premiere", in reference to the Homecoming Scotland celebrations.^[9]

Reception

The film took second place in its opening weekend, with $21,039,502, behind Where the Wild Things Are. It went on to gross $126.6 million total worldwide.^[10]

Law Abiding Citizen received negative reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives it a 25% score, with an average rating of 4.3/10 based on 155 reviews. The site's critical consensus states that "Unnecessarily violent and unflinchingly absurd, Law Abiding Citizen is plagued by subpar acting and a story that defies reason."^[11]

In his review for the Chicago Sun Times, Roger Ebert said, "Law Abiding Citizen is the kind of movie you will like more at the time than in retrospect." He then went on to say, "Still, there's something to be said for a movie you like well enough at the time." Ebert rated the film 3 out of 4 stars.^[12]

See also

• Vigilante film
• List of films featuring home invasions

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Law Abiding Citizen

• Official website
• Law Abiding Citizen at the Internet Movie Database
• Law Abiding Citizen at Box Office Mojo
• Law Abiding Citizen at Rotten Tomatoes

Films directed by F. Gary Gray Friday (1995) Set It Off (1996) The Negotiator (1998) A Man Apart (2003) The Italian Job (2003) Be Cool (2005) Law Abiding Citizen (2009) Straight Outta Compton (2015)