"It's going to be biblical"
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Law Abiding Citizen stars everyone's favourite Spartan, Gerard Butler as Clyde Shelton, a seemingly normal man who after the brutal murder of his wife and child becomes frustrated with the justice system and decides to take matters into his own hands. Oscar winner Jamie Foxx is prosecutor Nick Rice who Shelton holds partially responsible for the `miscarriage' of justice and one of the key targets in his twisted game of cat and mouse. Who is the director behind this high octane action-thriller? According to the credits it's directed by F. Gary Gray which raises the interesting prospect of the first film to brought to you by the letter `F'.
Gray, real name Felix, prefers to go by just the first letter of his name when it comes to his filmmaking credits which have included The Negotiator , The Italian Job remake and A Man Apart. He leaves all notions of Sesame Street behind in Law Abiding Citizen, with violence used as a glorious tool by Shelton to inflict bone-crunching, blood-splattering justice.
While Gray's previous films have danced on the edge of darker territory, he moonwalks head first into it this time and with spine-tingling effect. Essentially he and writer/producer Kurt Wimmer have tried to make a gorey psychological thriller in a similar vein to Se7en and The Bone Collector. For the most part they succeed, largely thanks to powerhouse performances and skilful plotting. Law Abiding Citizen utilises the conventions of a slasher film despite firmly sitting in the action genre, with audiences on the edge of their seats as government officials are systematically murdered by Shelton in his quest for "biblical'' revenge.
Gray's music video background is evident, with even the most basic shot oozing style in a way action films rarely do. During the dramatic conclusion one scene in particular involving the slow motion capture of flame is truly beautiful, especially juxtaposed with the ugly events that have led up to that point. It's likely many viewers will be uncomfortable with the hardcore violence, but if you can stomach it there's real substance here.
Slicker and smarter than your average, Law Abiding Citizen is well worth the queasy stomach.
