Overture Films | 2009 | Rated R | 108 minutes

Director F. Gary Gray’s (THE ITALIAN JOB) newest film, LAW ABIDING CITIZEN, is an intelligent suspense thriller with an antagonist the likes of which have not been seen since Hannibal Lecter. LAW ABIDING CITIZEN tells the story of Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler), a tinkerer whose family is brutally murdered during a home invasion by two armed assailants. When the two men are brought to justice, and one turns evidence against the other in exchange for a lesser sentence in a plea bargain arranged by District Attorney Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx), who is more concerned about protecting his 96% conviction rate, Shelton questions the functionality of the legal system, and ten years later, decides to take justice into his own hands. What follows is a brilliant cat and mouse game between Shelton and Rice as those involved with the old case mysteriously begin to be systematically murdered.

LAW ABIDING CITIZEN’s effectiveness comes from F. Gary Gray’s and screenwriter Kurt Wimmer’s (STREET KINGS) ability to blur the lines between good and evil and justice and retribution, and by the establishment of a dichotomous nature within the two principal characters, for each has the propensity to be both the protagonist and the antagonist, and each are able to move freely between the two extremes throughout the film. What effectively develops on screen then is a metaphorical chess game between two very intelligent individuals, each trying to think so many moves ahead of the other, and this creates a completely engaging plot for an audience to immerse itself within. Brilliantly acted by Gerard Butler (300) and Jamie Foxx (RAY), LAW ABIDING CITIZEN keeps character the absolute central focus of the film, and each of the magnificently talented actors are given the freedom to explore the subtle nuances of their respective roles by Gray, and in the process to develop exceptionally dynamic and engaging characters with intricate complexities who will challenge an audience’s notions of right and wrong.

Gray’s film becomes almost operatic in the tonality of its aesthetic elements, and there are some truly remarkable sequences that highlight Gray’s brilliance as a filmmaker. In one specific scene, one of the criminals involved in the initial home invasion is being executed after being on death row for a decade. Gray and editor Tariq Anwar (REVOLUTIONARY ROAD) parallel the scene of the lethal injection being administered with one of Rice’s daughters cello recital taking place at the same moment. As the music plays, and the criminal is elevated on his gurney with bound outstretched arms in a crucifixion pose on display for the attending witnesses, numerous subtextual points of plot are all being alluded to. In a single and beautifully filmed sequence, one can see the question of the effectiveness of capital punishment trading one life for another when there is the possibility of innocence paralleled with the alignment of priorities for Rice as an absentee father. Rice’s blind pursuit of justice in accordance with the law and at the expense of his family also becomes reflective inversely of Shelton’s blind pursuit of justice in accordance with his family at the expense of the law. Both characters then become oddly matched versions of the same pursuit and equally representative of the danger of taking either of their views to the extreme without thought for a middle ground.

Cinematographer Jonathan Sela (MAX PAYNE) creates some amazingly poetic shots including a fire sequence in the film’s third act that is simply breathtaking. The overall look of the film also helps serve to continue the development of each of the characters and in doing so, helps create the air of suspense that matches beautifully with the building pacing that Gray utilizes as the framework for the film. While there are some scenes of intense brutality that will have some in the audiences covering their eyes, the fact is Gray never allows these to devolve into the realms of being gratuitous or sensationalistic, but instead rather allows more of the horror to be implied and alluded to much as Hitchcock did with his thrillers.

LAW ABIDING CITIZEN is a masterful film, and will keep audiences guessing as they try to decipher the characters that Butler and Foxx brilliantly weave together throughout the film. The film raises some important and drastically different questions, but is never heavy handed and instead allows the audience to develop their own feelings in regard to the subject matter. LAW ABIDING CITIZEN is a must see film and is definitely one of the best suspense thrillers to hit theatres in years.

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