Law Abiding Citizen
| Law Abiding Citizen | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
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| 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 |
| Editing by | Tariq Anwar |
| Studio | The Film Department |
| Distributed by | Overture Films |
| Release date(s) |
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| Running time | 108 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $53 million[1] |
| Box office | $126,690,726[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 & 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 the corrupt criminal justice system itself. 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, 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]
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Plot [edit]
In a 1999 Philadelphia home invasion, Clarence James Darby (Christian Stolte) and his accomplice Rupert Ames (Josh Stewart) kill the wife and daughter of Clyde Alexander Shelton (Gerard Butler) before his eyes. Prosecutor Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) is unable to use DNA hard evidence to securely convict both accused and unwilling to take a chance on lowering his high conviction rate. He makes a deal with Darby, letting him plead guilty to a lesser charge and receive a reduced sentence in return for testifying against Ames. Ames is found guilty and is sentenced to death. Darby is released after a few years. Shelton feels betrayed by Rice's actions and by the justice system in general.
Ten years later, Ames's time on death row is up. Unknown to the prosecutors and the witnesses, the cardiotoxic drug usually used in executions has been replaced with an anticonvulsant, causing Ames to die an extremely painful death. Evidence relating to tampering with the drug implicates Darby. An anonymous caller alerts Darby as the police draw near, and directs him to a remote location. Shelton, disguised as a cop, reveals himself as the caller and paralyzes Darby with puffer fish poison. He straps Darby to a table and slowly dismembers him, videorecording the gory proceedings. When Darby's remains are found, evidence ties his death to Shelton. Shelton willingly gives himself up and goes to jail.
Rice learns his wife and daughter were sent the dismemberment video and were traumatized by it, and initially refuses to bargain with Shelton to make a confession. But District Attorney Jonas Cantrell (Bruce McGill) orders Rice to make a deal. In court, Shelton represents himself. He successfully argues that he should be granted bail, then berates 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.
Shelton demands a steak dinner be delivered to his cell by a specific time, in return for telling where to find Darby's lawyer, who was reported missing three days earlier. Rice agrees, though the dinner is delayed by a few minutes due to the warden's security measures. Once he has his meal, Shelton provides a set of coordinates, where Rice and the others find Darby's lawyer, buried alive but suffocated when his air supply ran out while Shelton's dinner was being delayed. Shelton kills his cellmate, forcing the warden to secure him in solitary confinement.
Cantrell arranges a meeting with a CIA contact and brings Rice. They learn that Shelton has previously worked with the agency, creating devices to assassinate people in imaginative ways. Further, they are warned that Shelton is capable of killing anyone he wishes. During a meeting with Rice and Cantrell, the judge is killed when she answers her cell phone and it explodes. A number of Rice's assistants are killed by car bombs, one of them Sarah Lowell (Leslie Bibb). As Rice and Cantrell leave the funeral of one of Rice's assistants, Cantrell is killed by a weaponized bomb disposal robot. The mayor (Viola Davis) puts the city under lockdown and promotes Rice to acting District Attorney.
Rice learns that Shelton owns an auto garage next to the prison. A tunnel from the garage leads to a cache of guns, disguises, and other equipment below the solitary confinement cells, and secret entrances to each cell. He realizes Shelton wanted to be in solitary, allowing him to easily leave the prison without detection and commit the murders. Evidence in the tunnel points Rice to Shelton's next target, city hall, where the mayor is holding an emergency meeting with city officials. Rice and his men cannot 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 berates Shelton for taking revenge because of the pain he suffered. Shelton suggests another deal, but Rice refuses this time, saying that he does not make deals with murderers anymore, and thanks Shelton for teaching him that. Rice secures Shelton in the cell and flees. Despite being pleased that Rice had finally learned his lesson, Shelton dials the cell phone on the city hall bomb. Shelton realizes too late that Rice has moved the bomb to his cell and the cell's entrance to the tunnel has been sealed. Shelton looks upon his daughter's bracelet with a sense of sadness, accepting his fate as the bomb explodes.
Cast [edit]
- Jamie Foxx as Nick Rice
- Gerard Butler as Clyde Alexander Shelton
- Colm Meaney as Detective Dunnigan
- Bruce McGill as Jonas Cantrell
- Leslie Bibb as Sarah Lowell
- Michael Irby as Detective Garza
- Gregory Itzin as Warden Inger
- Regina Hall as Kelly Rice
- Emerald-Angel Young as Denise Rice
- Christian Stolte as Clarence James Darby
- Annie Corley as Judge Laura Burch
- Richard Portnow as Bill Reynolds
- Viola Davis as Mayor April Henry
- Michael Kelly as Bray
- Josh Stewart as Rupert Ames
- Roger Bart as Brian Bringham
- Dan Bittner as Serneo
- Evan Hart as Collins
- Reno Laquintano as Dwight Dixon
Production [edit]
Filming began in August 2008[citation needed] and took place in and around Philadelphia. Filming locations included Philadelphia's City Hall and the old Holmesburg Prison.
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 [edit]
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 [edit]
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 [edit]
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 mostly negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives a score of 25% based on 154 reviews with an average score of 4.3/10. The site's consensus states: "Unnecessarily violent and unflinchingly absurd, Law Abiding Citizen is plagued by subpar acting and a story that defies reason."[11] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating based on 100 reviews from mainstream critics, gave the film an average score of 34% based on 26 reviews.[12]
One notable exception was Roger Ebert. In his review for the Chicago Sun Times, 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 a possible 4 stars.[citation needed]
References [edit]
- ^ "Distribution: A Love Story". Screen Daily. 2009-10-08.
- ^ "Law Abiding Citizen (2009)". Box Office Mojo. IMDB. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
- ^ "Law Abiding Citizen". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved July 29, 2009.
- ^ Awards for Law Abiding Citizen at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ "Law Abiding Citizen - Gerard Butler interview". IndieLondon. Retrieved May 8, 2012.
- ^ Dan Goldwasser (September 11, 2009). "Brian Tyler scores Law Abiding Citizen". ScoringSessions.com. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
- ^ "Exclusive Clip, Contest for LAW ABIDING CITIZEN!". Fangoria.com. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
- ^ "The Film Stage". The Film Stage. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
- ^ "Exclusive: Scots star Gerard Butler ready for homecoming premiere - and hitting 40". The Daily Record. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
- ^ "Law Abiding Citizen (2009)". Box Office Mojo. 2010-02-04. Retrieved 2010-12-31.
- ^ "Law Abiding Citizen". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved March 20, 2013.
- ^ "Law Abiding Citizen (2009): Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
External links [edit]
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Wikiquote has a collection of 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
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