Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.

Director:

F. Gary Gray

Writer:

Kurt Wimmer

Stars:

Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Leslie Bibb

2 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jamie Foxx	...	Nick Rice
Gerard Butler	...	Clyde Shelton
Colm Meaney	...	Detective Dunnigan
Bruce McGill	...	Jonas Cantrell
Leslie Bibb	...	Sarah Lowell
Michael Irby	...	Detective Garza
Gregory Itzin	...	Warden Iger
Regina Hall	...	Kelly Rice
Emerald-Angel Young	...	Denise Rice (as Emerald Angel Young)
Christian Stolte	...	Clarence Darby
Annie Corley	...	Judge Laura Burch
Richard Portnow	...	Bill Reynolds
Viola Davis	...	Mayor
Michael Kelly	...	Bray
Josh Stewart	...	Rupert Ames (as Joshua Stewart)

Storyline

Clyde Shelton's family is brutally murdered. The ones responsible are caught. However, because of improper procedure, the D.A., Nick Rice only has circumstantial evidence. So he decides to get one of them to testify against the other. When Shelton learns of this, he is not happy. Ten years later, the one who was convicted is being executed but something goes wrong; his execution goes awry and he suffers. They learn that someone tampered with the machine. And the other one is found dead, killed in a gruesome manner. Rice suspects Shelton, so he has him picked up. At first, Shelton agrees to a plea agreement with Rice but changes his mind. It appears that Shelton is not done, it appears he blames the whole system and is declaring war on it going after everyone involved with his family's case. So Rice has to stop him but Shelton is way ahead of him.

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Plot Keywords:

justice | attorney | district attorney | deal | investigation | 

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Taglines:

Justice At Any Cost

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody brutal violence and torture, a scene of rape, and pervasive language

Details

Official Sites:

Constantin Film [Germany] Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 October 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Gesetz der Rache

Filming Locations:

500 Cheyney Rd, Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$21,039,502 (USA) (16 October 2009)

Gross:

$73,343,413 (USA) (29 January 2010)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Film Department, The, Gerard Butler Alan Siegel Entertainment, Warp Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min 118 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

'Gerald Butler' interviewed that a scene where a character is murdered by being repeatedly stabbed with a steak bone was so gory that the MPAA gave the film's initial cut an NC-17 rating solely on that basis. When an edited version with much less blood (though still graphically violent) was submitted, the film was immediately granted an R rating.

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Goofs

Clyde states that Darby will only do five years for third degree murder, he's technically accurate: that is the minimum sentence for a defendant with absolutely no criminal history. However, Darby already has at least one previous felony, as revealed during the phone call to Darby helping him escape. Under Pennsylvania law, a single felony in the defendant's criminal history would raise that to a 7 1/2 year minimum. Assuming that the judge gave them the 7.5 - 15 year minimum, that would only make them eligible for parole after 7.5 years, no guarantee that they'd be released. Additionally, the judge has the authority to exceed those, and is not bound by any plea agreement.

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Quotes

Nick Rice: Is your name Clyde Alexander Shelton?
Clyde Shelton: Yes sir
Nick Rice: And you've waived your right to counsel is that correct?
Clyde Shelton: Yes sir
Nick Rice: You sure you want to do that?
Clyde Shelton: Yes sir
Nick Rice: Did you murder Clarence Darby?
Clyde Shelton: I wanted him dead he killed my wife and child
Nick Rice: Rupert Ames, did you murder him too?
Clyde Shelton: Rupert Ames deserved to die, they both deserved to die
[...]

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Connections

Featured in The New Paul O'Grady Show: Episode dated 19 November 2009 (2009)

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Soundtracks

Mr. Tambourine Man
Written by Bob Dylan
Performed by The Studio Sound Ensemble
Courtesy of Countdown Media GmbH

User Reviews

Good but not great due to Foxx and bad ending

Clyde Shelton's ( Gerard Butler ) wife gets murdered in the beginning of the movie and justice doesn't prevail because one of the killers is only sentenced for 10 years. Clyde is angry as hell and will make sure the people responsible for the horrible trial of the killers will all suffer and die. So basically you got yourself a revenge movie here. Clyde is killing them and isn't even hiding it, he admits it. Nick Rice ( Jamie Foxx ) is the DA on the case and needs to find out what the hell is going on. Now the fun part is that Clyde is performing the kills from within his prison cell, he even has to sit out in solitary and is still killing people, now how cool is that.

I totally dig the idea of a highly intelligent man orchestrating kills on specific times and places from his prison cell, all planned ahead of time. If you're a smart ass while watching this movie you'll find out there are a lot of plot holes so I recommend you not to think it all through. Heads up for Gerard Butler, this guy is making some mayor progress on this one after some sh!tty movies last year. I think we'll be seeing more of King Leonidas in the future so hurray to that. On the opposite, Jamie Foxx is on a decline. Ray was an excellent movie but after that it's just bad. As Nick Rice the DA he is just one stone face mofo, no emotion no nothing. Jamie and the ending of the movie are the only 2 things that suck. The movie is just handing out it's surprises like candy, like spoiling your daughter's birthday present a week before her actual birthday. Watch it with a time progress bar and stop the movie before the last 15 minutes, then close your eyes and make up your own ending and I promise you it will be way better then the awful piece of movie you just skipped...