Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

Movie Name/Year: Law Abiding Citizen (2009)
Tagline: Justice At Any Cost
Genre: Thriller, Crime, Drama
Length: 108 minutes
Rating: R
Production Companies: Warp Films, G-BASE, The Film Department, Evil Twins
Producers: Gerard Butler, Lucas Foster, Dave Gare, Mark Gill, Michael Goguen, Robert Katz, Neil Sacker, Alan Siegel, Gregory Veeser, Ian Watermeier, Jeff G. Waxman, Kurt Wimmer
Director: F. Gary Gray
Writer: Kurt Wimmer
Actors: Jamie Foxx, Gerard Butler, Colm Meaney, Bruce McGill, Leslie Bibb, Michael Irby, Gregory Itzin, Regina Hall, Viola Davis

Blurb from Netflix: A horrific crime leaves a family man shattered. When the system fails him, he only has one option.

Cat’s Point of View:

I’ll be upfront with you. This wasn’t my first watch-through of this movie. I first saw it closer to the timeframe it was in theaters. I remember that first viewing left me somewhat stunned at the brutality, and it certainly had sucked me in with the story.

At this point, the Saw (2004) franchise was well under way. Audiences that followed that series of movies, or those like it, might not have experienced this film with the same gut-punch. The thing is, this movie wasn’t marketed as a horror. (I believed it when I read that the film nearly got a NC-17 rating until they scaled back…just a little.) I’d say most viewers got a little bit more than they bargained for when signing on for a Crime Drama-Thriller. Though, it didn’t quite go to the same horrific extremes as the torture-porn franchises or even more low-key properties on that spectrum such as Untraceable (2008).

I’m completely unsurprised that the movie appealed to audiences far more than the critics. If you’re thinking about it too hard, some of the story is a bit hard to swallow. If you’re just along for the ride, it’s easier to sink in to the experience.

The scenarios within the film weren’t much easier to take the second time around. It opens with a real gut-punch that doesn’t really lose impact with a single repetition… the situation is just horrible. I don’t want to spoil anything so I really have to dance around it. The movie’s a bit heavy-handed in the way the story tries to point out flaws in the broken ‘System.’

At the same time, the dynamic between Gerard Butler (Gamer, Olympus Has Fallen, The Vanishing) and Jamie Foxx (The Soloist, Django Unchained, Baby Driver) was really enjoyable. Their back and forth makes the movie, really. 

I’m not sure that I’d give this movie a third watch-through, but that’s primarily because of the overall punch to the feels. I would strongly recommend avoiding watching this one with younger audiences, for sure. Other than that, It wasn’t bad. 

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 26%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 75%
Metascore - 34/100
Metacritic User Score – 7/10
IMDB Score – 7.4/10

Trust the Dice: Cat’s Rating – 3.5/5

Movie Trailer: