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

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 | deal | investigation | criminal mastermind | looking at oneself in a mirror | 

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Taglines:

How do you stop a killer who is already behind bars?

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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:

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, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$73,343,413, 31 January 2010

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$126,690,726, 12 August 2012

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

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When in Clyde's house Colm Meaney asks Jamie Foxx if Clyde is a lawyer, and he hands him a volume of the U.S. Code (federal statutes). The volume is the bankruptcy code, which would not appear to be helpful in Clyde's plan, but he may have just had the complete set of volumes and that one pulled at random.

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Goofs

Throughout the film Clyde is being held in a maximum security prison complete with solitary confinement, convicted inmates, and a warden. Pre-trial, suspects are held in a county jail, not a prison.

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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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Connections

Referenced in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Repo Men/The Bounty Hunter/The Runaways (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

Like a great relationship gone bad

This reminds me of the start of a great relationship, starts out wonderful, continues to grow, and then out of nowhere, BAM, it ends and you are left wondering what just happened.

As so many other reviewers have stated, it starts out with great suspense, originality, and creativity, and somewhere in the last 20 minutes, you are left wondering, did it really just end that way? Ouch! I found myself incredibly disappointed.

We all love Jaime Foxx's funny side, but really wanted to see something else happen to him in this film. I get the idea of the end, that he learned his lesson so to speak, but it was still really weak for what it could have been.

However, I'll still give it an 8 as it kept me quite intrigued throughout...so hard to find these days in a quality film.