Que justice soit faite

Law Abiding Citizen had great potential and at the beginning I thought that it would exploit it brilliantly. Unfortunately, however, it soon turns out that it’s nothing but a decent thriller that tries to look smart (and manages it to a certain extent). The screenwriter gave up all attempts to explain certain things, choosing a deux ex machina principle instead. And the claim, that a smart film doesn’t need to explain everything to a smart viewer because they should be well able to figure things out themselves, doesn’t apply. Solid fun, but better not speculate too much about it. (05/12/2009)

The fusion of classic "revenge movies" with modern hi-tech toys promised all sorts of things, only to fall short of the promise itself. This is due to Gray’s routinization, which doesn't exceed the scope of the trailer in terms of action. Additionally, Wimmer's thought castration tries to combine themes of revenge (on whom and why?), the indictment of the judicial system, and family drama so clumsily and desperately that I now suspect the editor of sabotage, resulting in half an hour of footage disappearing into the void. The film has no gradation, no logical progression, and no tension to speak of. There are just a couple of crashing cars, a gloomy Butler (a good thing), a slimy Foxx (the last good thing), and the status of the year's greatest missed opportunity. (09/12/2009)

Imagine a drunk fan watching a football match and forgetting who he is cheering for. At least that’s how Gray's film seemed to me. It tries to look very serious, but as a result ends up with proven truths and clichés. A well-creased punk who drinks coca-cola while dreaming of absolute anarchy. But if I think away from the really poor imitation of playing with the motif of system corruption, then this is quite a suitable thriller. Neither Butler nor Fox give us anything more than we are used to seeing, Gray is gracefully satisfactory, and Law Abiding Citizen rides more on a wave of positive impressions. If only the film sometimes didn't pretend to be a smarty-pants and didn't act like a glued monkey... (13/11/2009)

I hereby notify all upstanding citizens that Foxx is about as endearing here as any regular politician and Butler didn’t even attempt to endow his character with the charisma needed to command due respect. And if that weren’t enough, while writing this weak broth made from the first part of Saw, they looked up the term “shocking twist" but mixed up the definition with that for “load of hogwash". (23/01/2010)

An above average and thoughtful film led by the talented Gerard Butler. I was glowing and gobbling it up the entire time. I was a bit more disappointed with the ending. It's happened a few times before that a brilliant film has been brought down by a pointlessly simple ending. This is a prime example. Otherwise, Butler is great again! He handles every genre with aplomb. 4.5 stars. (13/05/2011)

Yes, once again I will go against the current...:-) Law Abiding Citizen may have routine direction, an unremarkable antagonist, and an unsympathetic hero, whose value system and careerism could make weaker characters feel disgusted, but all of that is still enough for a decent three stars. But then we have the screenplay, which is unrealistic, megalomaniacal, not addressing many crucial moments, but above all, silly in its overall construction. The difference between a quality thriller and Law Abiding Citizen is the same as the difference between Zinnemann's The Day of the Jackal and its 1997 American remake. Put some high-tech gadgets in there, a few shocking twists, and an appropriate dose of brutality, and the result will surely come. In practice, the viewer is faced with situations where a terrorist places a bomb that he can detonate with a mobile phone, and instead of actually detonating it and delighting in the destruction of his victims, he walks home, so that his opponent manages to deliver the bag with the explosive, which, for a change, he knows can be detonated at any time or randomly explode, to the terrorist's bedroom and maliciously enjoyed watching the terrorist carry out his own sentence... Overall impression: 25%. (05/03/2010)

Wimmer's screenplay isn't particularly great, but it’s central idea is really good. Moreover, the excellent Gerard Butler immediately got not only to me, but also to my sister, and we were on his side throughout the whole movie. Personally I understood why he was doing it. Hell, I'd do the same thing. Unfortunately, the closer we get to the conclusion, the more the creators make him a negative character so that they could slip into an established template. Not that this suddenly makes the whole movie bad, it just takes a certain aura away from Butler. Something is stolen from the film that could have made it an unforgettable spectacle. It's not what you know, Clyde. It's what you can prove in court. (16/01/2010)

F. Gary Gray is indeed a routine artist, and probably will be forever, but I would be lying if I said Citizen is not an interesting and relatively thrilling movie at certain moments. I was surprised by the brutality of some scenes and the R rating, but I was not surprised by the awkward twist and the average screenplay. There is a decent chemistry between Butler and Foxx, but they exploit it only halfway (greetings to the screenwriter),.The pyrotechnic effects like Backdraft and the shootout in the cemetery evoking Sheriff were a pleasant retro touch. (21/02/2010)

A solid thriller, extremely suspenseful from start to finish. We can thank for this the idea, which managed to turn even the classic theme of revenge into a fresh and unique spectacle, as well as the two actors (Butler's "daddy" really isn't a good guy, Foxx's prosecutor beautifully gropes between what is right and what is wrong), the direction and the music. However, some of the moments seen in Law Abiding Citizen (in its second half) did not seem to me the least bit realistic, or even feasible in a normal universe. Otherwise - a really good film. (22/07/2010)

Grrr disappointing. The film has a terribly fast pace, by the second minute Butler has a baseball bat in his face and some initial getting-to-know-you takes place via a knife in his stomach, after all why not, but then you find the film deals this half-heartedness and brevity terribly often. You can't begin to empathize with Butler that fast based on one scene where he and his daughter exchange two sentences and his wife calls something to him, because in the next one they take them out "there's just another woman and child in the film". Thus your attention is drawn to just wondering what a pissed off Butler is going to do and how he's going to do it, and thus a film that imho relies on making the viewer feel outrage at a poorly set up legal system becomes a cold viewing experience not unlike, say, installments of the Saw series ("I wonder how he's going to take this one down"), which doesn't work out much either because Butler is full of crap like "...this gonna be biblical." and "...then everybody will die" and then the excited viewer is disappointed when he doesn't do that much. It's a shame to talk about the logic of some of the scenes and the completely out of nowhere ending. All in all, a star for the scene with the phone, a star for the steak bone scene, and a star for Butler. (20/11/2009)

I thought that it could disappoint me the second time, but even the second time I didn't feel like it was a bad movie. It is well thought out and I simply love smart heroes. In this case, I got that and I am absolutely thrilled about it. Gerard Butler is one of my favorite actors because of this movie, even though unfortunately, he often chooses nonsense. The ending is great. You only get a scumbag by becoming one yourself. A pretty good message overall. (27/10/2013)