Ah, they don't make 'em like this any more. But they do! Law Abiding Citizen is a barmy, high concept thriller in which a pissed off Gerard Butler is let down by Jamie Foxx's legal system after his wife and daughter are raped and murdered. In true (Spartan) style, Gerard doesn't get mad, he gets even. Well, a bit mad then.
Written by Kurt Wimmer, this adult cat and mouse movie is preposterous. The happy coincidences. The levels to which Butler is able to get away with his plan. Ludicrous. The dialogue. Dumb. It's slick, bullshity, unbelievable bollocks.
And as such, I rather enjoyed the escapism of it all. Foxx is solid in the morally conflicted District Attorney (it's a pale shadow of the morality tale The Dark Knight was) while Butler has fun as the bad guy you want to love. Yep, Gerard does lots of bad things to good people, but you're still with him right to the obvious conclusion...partly 'cause he's a charisma machine and partly 'cause you know he's got a point.
It's also rather entertaining to hear cops swearing and for savage bloodletting to be seen in a mainstream crime film. Cops 'n' robbers stuff seems to be relegated to CSI TV land while cinema gets superheroes to do it's crime solving. In the good ol' days we had Basic Instict, The Bone Collector, Rising Sun and Snakes Eyes...so it's a warm welcome back to the Hollywood thriller. Even if this one resides in a padded cell.
No comments:
Post a Comment