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.

Director:

F. Gary Gray

Writer:

Kurt Wimmer

Stars:

Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Leslie Bibb

3 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 | terrorism | deal | investigation | criminal mastermind | 

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Taglines:

Justice At Any Cost

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Genres:

Action | 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

Did You Know?

Trivia

Darby's ring tone is "Bloodline" by Slayer.

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Goofs

When Nick Rice is on his Mac, the software he is shown using is Windows Vista, not OSX. All modern Macs can dual-boot, and run Windows natively, so Rice's Mac running Vista is not in error.

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Quotes

Nick Rice: [sitting across from him at their table] Is your name Clyde Alexander Shelton?
Clyde Shelton: [while in a confinement cell] 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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Alternate Versions

The Ireland release was originally rated 18 and revised to get a 16 rating, only to be rated 18 once again for video release.

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Connections

Featured in The Justice of 'Law Abiding Citizen' (2010)

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Soundtracks

Eminence Front
Written by Pete Townshend
Performed by The Who
Courtesy of Polydor Records Ltd./Geffen Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

A morality tale with plenty of action

This is a movie that's extremely fun to watch in the theaters because you get to hear and see everyone's reaction to each of his killings. The best one had people actually saying loudly "wow" and "oh my god!".

What drew me to the movie was the fact that the hero wasn't going around killing people with his bare hands or face to face. He was doing it with his mind, with careful planning, and deft precision. That was something refreshing to see. I can totally relate to his feelings of anger over the flaws in the justice system and his desire to take matters into his own hands - to make things right.

The ending was disappointing but the rest of the film was not and I liked it overall.

Details

Official Sites:

Constantin Film [Germany] Official Facebook

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 October 2009 (USA)

Also Known As:

Law Abiding Citizen

Filming Locations:

Girard Point, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$50,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$21,039,502, 18 October 2009

Gross USA:

$73,357,727

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$127,944,208

Company Credits

Production Co:

G-BASE, The Film Department, Warp Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

109 min 118 min (director's cut)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS SDDS Dolby Atmos

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1