Law Abiding Citizen
| Law Abiding Citizen | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | F. Gary Gray |
| Written by | Kurt Wimmer |
| Produced by | Gerard Butler Kurt Wimmer Mark Gill Lucas Foster Alan Siegel |
| Starring | Jamie Foxx Gerard Butler Bruce McGill Colm Meaney Leslie Bibb Michael Irby Regina Hall |
| Cinematography | Jonathan Sela |
| Edited by | Tariq Anwar |
| Music by | Brian Tyler |
Production company | The Film Department |
| Distributed by | Overture Films |
Release date |
|
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, the main actor Jamie Foxx is supported by 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]
Plot
Rice initially refuses to bargain with Shelton to obtain a full confession once he learns his wife and daughter were sent the dismemberment recording and were traumatized by it. 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 had cited and for being too eager to let madmen and murderers back on the street. The judge reverses herself and sends him back to jail for contempt of court.
During his next interrogation, Shelton demands a fancy steak dinner to be delivered to his cell by a specific time, in return for telling where to find Darby's lawyer, who it turns out 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 the corpse of Darby's lawyer, who had been buried alive and had suffocated when his air supply ran out a few minutes earlier, with virtually the same amount of time by which Shelton's dinner was delayed. Meanwhile, Shelton kills his cellmate by repeatedly stabbing him with the steak bone, forcing the warden to secure him in solitary confinement.
Realizing Shelton's ingenuity, Cantrell arranges a meeting with a CIA contact and bring Rice along. They learn that Shelton has previously worked with the agency as a technical expert in creating devices to assassinate targets in imaginative, remote ways. Moreover, they are warned that Shelton is capable of killing anyone he sets his sights on. During a meeting with Rice and Cantrell, the judge is killed when she answers her cell phone and it explodes while being held against her ear. Several of Rice's assistants, including Sarah Lowell (Leslie Bibb), are killed by car bombs. As Rice and Cantrell leave the funeral for one of Rice's assistants, Cantrell is killed by a remote-controlled weaponized bomb disposal unit. The mayor (Viola Davis) puts the city under lockdown and promotes Rice to acting District Attorney, demanding that he resolve the matter.
Rice, from an email Lowell had previously sent, discovers that Shelton owns an auto garage next to the prison. There, he and a detective discover a tunnel leading to a cache of guns, disguises, and other equipment below the solitary confinement cells, along with a secret entrance into each cell. He realizes Shelton wanted to be in solitary, allowing him to easily leave the prison without detection and perform the murders himself. 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 do discover evidence pointing to a cell-phone-activated suitcase bomb filled with napalm in the room directly below the meeting; if tripped, the bomb would wipe out everyone at the meeting.
Shelton returns to his garage after planting the bomb, and returns to his cell. He is surprised to find Rice waiting for him. Rice berates Shelton for continuing his path of revenge because of the pain he suffered. Shelton offers another deal, but Rice refuses this time, saying that he does not make deals with murderers anymore, though he thanks Shelton for teaching him that. Despite being pleased that Rice had finally learned this lesson, Shelton calls the cell phone on the bomb without remorse. Upon this, Rice secures Shelton in the room and flees. Shelton realizes too late that Rice has placed the bomb under his cot and that the entrance to the tunnel has been blocked. Seeing that he has lost, Shelton looks upon his daughter's bracelet with a sense of sadness, accepting his fate as the bomb explodes, killing him.
Cast
- 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
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
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 mostly negative reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes reported that 25% of critics gave positive reviews based on 154 reviews with an average score of 4.3/10. Another review aggregator, 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. 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.[11]
References
- ^ "Distribution: A Love Story". Screen Daily. 2009-10-08.
- ^ "Law Abiding Citizen (2009) - Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
- ^ "Law Abiding Citizen". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved July 29, 2009.
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1197624/awards
- ^ "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 (2009): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
External links
