Law Abiding Citizen

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Law Abiding Citizen - 27/11/2009 3:29:42 PM

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Post #: 1

Original and entertaining!!! - 28/11/2009 9:00:08 AM

Soumit

Posts: 1
Joined: 25/11/2009

I have to give this movie a 3 and a half. It could've been a 4 if not for the atrocious ending. The plot has been described perfectly, with a bit of a biased view, by Angle Errigo, and with one little thing missing. Gerard Butler's "ordinary, decent guy Clyde" actually happens to be a super assassin for the government. They find that out half way to 2/3s through the movie. The story is new and very well thought out. The acting is very good. Clyde's biggest asset is his ordinary, decent guy persona, that he utilises to his own advantage to take revenge on an unjust world. It does make you sit back and take notice of the system. The violence sequences are all very entertaining if you are one for that kind of stuff. They are extreme in some situations, but I believe that is the next step in the evolution in the violence in movies. It was not at horror proportions, so no need to be worrying about that. The ending was the biggest let down I have ever dealt with in a movie. The story sets it up for a grand finish with fireworks, there were fireworks alright, but nothing grand about them. It was too rushed and absolutely unimaginative. Very bad, very, very bad!!!!!
Definitely entertaining and worth watching. Got to it with the idea of having fun and you will enjoy it. It is not an oscar movie or a character movie. It's pure entertainment!!!

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Post #: 2

Bloody Brilliant. - 28/11/2009 5:25:08 PM

joanna likes films

Posts: 987
Joined: 27/10/2007
From: Bexhill

This has to be one of best thrillers I have seen this year, never I had been so gripped on the edge of my seat and shocked of what happened next throughout. The stunning pefomances from Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler are worthy of your attention, this is a film you really need to see. I argee with the ending, finished too quickly and far too sad but it does make you think. It's very clever, very well done and Empire giving it two stars is wrong. Four stars I will be giving it, I really recommend people to go see this before it goes off the cinemas.

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Post #: 3

Harsh. Extremely Harsh... - 29/11/2009 9:53:37 PM

CIRVIRUS64

Posts: 51
Joined: 20/12/2008

2 stars? Really? Fair enough, the first 5 minutes is overly familiar with Death Wish or the more recent Death Race 2000, but what follows is a good, edge-of-your-seat, twisty violent thriller, with very good, engaging performances from its leads. The last ten minutes is probably the most ridiculous, preposterous ending I've seen in a while, but there's no denying that it's irresistably entertaining.

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Post #: 4

RE: Harsh. Extremely Harsh... - 30/11/2009 7:59:40 PM

robwillphill

Posts: 393
Joined: 15/4/2007
From: Maidstone

Oh dear. Entertaining i guess, but only just - because the rest is SHIT

4/10

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Post #: 5

Law Abiding - 1/12/2009 2:00:20 PM

moviemaniac2

Posts: 525
Joined: 17/9/2006

The most frustrating thing about this is that this really could have been something more. Butler is genuinely excellent at the beginning, but as soon as he turns into the genius, dastardly villain, it's all downhill. He's continuously struck down by a script that seemingly started life as a Saw sequel. Foxx is pretty much unlikeable for the entire production: even when Butler is massacring innocent people, you're still more inclined to side with him than Foxx's cocky District Attorney.

Gray's direction is suitably slick, and he works the action and ludicrous death scenes well enough, while Butler does show he is more than capable of delivering the dramatics. It's just a shame the script feels like it was written by a pissed off 15 year old who just had the crap beaten out of him at school.

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Post #: 6

Law Abiding - 1/12/2009 2:00:21 PM

moviemaniac2

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Post #: 7

Law Abiding Citizen - 2/12/2009 4:36:08 PM

seaneo

Posts: 3
Joined: 10/1/2006

Absolute tosh of the first order - but did anyone expect anything less from charisma vacuums Messrs Butler and Foxx and the director of The Italian Job? Check out my blog review of the film at Anyone For a Film? - http://www.seano22.blogspot.com

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Post #: 8

What Punisher should have been - 3/12/2009 5:09:55 PM

The Crow

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Joined: 16/1/2006

I didn't know anything about the film but after watching the Trailer, I really wanted to see it. Not disappointed in the least! One sentence to justify the full marks: any man who's been put in the same position would do exactly the same thing.

This film shows how the justice system can be just as corruptible as any in the world when people have unethical motives. It shows how a man who is lethal, what damage he can do when the justice system fails him and he has nothing else to live for.

Entertaining and thought provoking. This is what Thrillers should be.

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Post #: 9

I thought it was great - 4/12/2009 4:39:11 PM

MariannaBelle

Posts: 49
Joined: 7/1/2009

This was s really good movie. I feel sometimes reviewers forget about the fact movies are meant to entertain and not all scripts can be complaetely realistic!

If some of the stuff in this movie could really be done then we should all live in fear. But by making this kind of scenario happen in a film we can leave the cinema and go home without being terrified of what a prisoner could be doing from his cell.

The acting was grrat and i was entertained the WHOLE wat through.

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Post #: 10

I thought it was great - 4/12/2009 4:39:12 PM

MariannaBelle

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Joined: 7/1/2009

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Post #: 11

is best served cold. - 5/12/2009 2:43:33 PM

spamandham

Posts: 481
Joined: 27/11/2008

quote:

"Foxx is pretty much unlikeable for the entire production"

Has Foxx ever been less than an complete and utter twat in any of his films? I've seen a fair few of them, and I'd have to say no.

Not a bad film, but let down by an illogical ending that whiffs of a market research led rewrite.

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Post #: 12

RE: Law Abiding Citizen - 6/12/2009 9:51:09 PM

Death_Row_Marv

Posts: 90
Joined: 19/10/2005

Pathetic.

Utter drival.

Saw meets Crank but takes itsself far far to seroiusly.

Without the two main leads this is direct to DVD crap.

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Post #: 13

Better than Empire's 2 stars - 3 3/4 - 9/12/2009 2:01:58 PM

katelm76

Posts: 7
Joined: 10/1/2006
From: Bristol, UK

I read the Empire review with it's two stars so I was unsure what was I was going to get when I went to see it, but I like to make up my own mind. In my mind Empire should have given it more!
From the beginning to near the end I was engrossed, with an excellent performace from Butler and Foxx was as good as ever.
I was a bit disappointed by the ending as I was waiting for the big climax which you don't really receive, you get an ending which was a bit lack lustre. Which is why I've given it 3 stars (I would like to give it a 3 and three quarters!!

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Post #: 14

RE: Law Abiding Citizen - 9/12/2009 9:01:18 PM

dr. salvador

Posts: 1674
Joined: 13/12/2005
From: City 17

I enjoyed this film for the most part although I agree with some of the other posters when I say that the ending completely spoiled the film because it was so stupid and far fetched but everything else in the film was fairly good although nothing too special.

I would have thought that 3 stars would have been a fairer score to give it than 2 stars, Empire.

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Post #: 15

RE: Law Abiding Citizen - 10/12/2009 9:37:38 AM

Kazuya

Posts: 7953
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From: The Eighth Dimension c/o Buckaroo Banzai

Preposterous, abysmally stupid dud using every thriller cliche in the book. It's too long, it's acted with zero conviction (which is understandable considering the daftness of the script), except for Butler, whose performance is grotesquely uneven, but at least amusing in some form or another.

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Post #: 16

- 11/12/2009 1:00:03 AM

Bubba76

Posts: 205
Joined: 30/9/2005

burn baby, burn!

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Post #: 17

Who Cares?? - 29/12/2009 9:56:07 AM

claireh123

Posts: 5
Joined: 29/12/2009

After the performances in 'Ray' and '300' you'd think this film would be great.....wrong! Man (Butler) watches his wife and child raped and murdered. Lawyer (Fox) would rather give murderer 10 years and keep his success rate up than take it to trial. Man wants revenge (fair enough) takes it way too far, kills everyone involved in the case, no real point to the story, no history of the charachters, no change in the law, just chaninsaws, bombs and an unconvincing psycho (Butler) - a waste of an hour and a half of my life

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Post #: 18

Who Cares?? - 29/12/2009 9:56:10 AM

claireh123

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Post #: 19

Ridiculous and Meaningless Cross Between 'Saw' and 'The... - 1/1/2010 9:20:55 PM

lauriedunsire

Posts: 59
Joined: 5/11/2008
From: Edinburgh, Scotland

Wasn't expecting a work of genius when I went to see this film, but was left rather disappointed. The main problem for me was the whole plot was completely ridiculous. Firstly this guy takes things WELL too far, I mean yeah fair enough murder the bad guy who killed your family but was there any need to start slaughtering anyone who was involved even in the smallest way in the trial etc?? And then the way he is in jail and manages to have the system by the balls effectively is just not believable at all, and the 'twist' - if you can call it that - is so friggin stupid and lacking in creativity it's unreal.

A similar sort of story was 'The Brave One' with Jodie Foster, and I actually really enjoyed that film. Far more believable and concentrated a lot more on her trauma after the murder of her boyfriend, and she then has a far more understated but powerful run as a 'vigilante', but she is definetely sticking to just the 'bad guys'.

Law Abiding Citizen certainly isn't the worst film I've seen, and it has some good action (loved the mobile phone scene, even if again it was a bit ridiculous) and it did keep me watching and entertained on the most part. A sort of cross between 'The Brave One' and 'Saw'.

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Post #: 20

This is an entertaining movie with a solid performance ... - 9/1/2010 11:55:21 AM

Francis46

Posts: 46
Joined: 28/11/2009
From: Considering the merits of The Dark Side

I completely agree with you "MariannaBelle", movies are meant to entertain and this film certainly does just that!
I think that the Empire review takes a completely wrong tack on this film and it seems clear to me that the reviewer just didn't get the point of the film.

I thought that the whole premise of the film, Gerard Butler's character flipping after Foxx's lawyer allows his wife and child's murderer get away leniently no less believable than some of the stuff currently out there on the news. Butler does a great job of portraying a righteous conviction in his actions because of how he feels the legal system has let him down. There is a solid point at the core of this movie that looks at potential abuse of the american legal system for a lawyer's own personal gain. That this point is rammed home by way of explosions, a sense that Butler's character has a fair point and the plot hook of the viewer trying to work out how all this mayhem is happening whilst Butler is locked up makes this an intriguing movie to watch.

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Post #: 21

- 10/1/2010 3:46:34 AM

nc_jj

Posts: 662
Joined: 20/2/2008
From: Manchester.

Entertaining, but nothing fancy (or great).

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Post #: 22

RE: Law Abiding Citizen - 15/1/2010 3:34:12 PM

Tiffy21

Posts: 1
Joined: 11/1/2010

he is fucking and fucking clever! it's brilliant films ever. I had seen it in couple weeks ago. I want watching it again :)

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Post #: 23

RE: Law Abiding Citizen - 15/1/2010 3:57:18 PM

bad hat harry

Posts: 468
Joined: 10/3/2006
From: reality is twisted, i am a buffalo

quote:

ORIGINAL: Tiffy21

he is fucking and fucking clever! it's brilliant films ever. I had seen it in couple weeks ago. I want watching it again :)

Ah...I see that this movie has found it's target audience. He is "fucking and fucking clever." Just what i was thinking. Didn't Tolstoy write that? Are you showing off again? Just like at Aunt Sissie's party. You old whip.

[image]http://1.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kwapq23g8h1qa31uuo1_500.gif[/image]

I thought this movie was pretty dire. Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx have about half a facial expression between them and to watch actors as one note as this simply phone in performances, more than usual, it really is quite something. Mediocre and brainless in every way.

< Message edited by bad hat harry -- 15/1/2010 9:54:44 PM >

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Post #: 24

RE: Law Abiding Citizen - 21/1/2010 6:54:46 PM

lauriedunsire

Posts: 59
Joined: 5/11/2008
From: Edinburgh, Scotland

I am very surprised that anyone thought Butler and Foxx were anything more than mediocre in this movie. I've been really disappointed in some of the crap Butler has been churning out recently and whilst this was far from the worst performance ever, or the worse film ever, it really lacked depth. The movie mentioned in my review, The Brave One, was far better in so many ways. Jodie Foster really put across a feeling of pain and helplessness after the loss of her fiancee to a mindless act of violence, and when she takes on her vigilante role it's far more believeable than digging holes under prisons and mobile phones that can blow people's heads off.

I felt both lead characters in LAC were wooden and lacked any sort of convincing emotions, but the film was probably let down more by its mindless plot. Could of been so much more but really failed to deliver IMO.

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Post #: 25

Pleasantly surprising. - 27/1/2010 5:53:43 PM

paulandnic14

Posts: 47
Joined: 10/2/2009

I enjoyed this film much more then i then i thought as i was expecting a standard 'man looking for people who killed family, doesnt stop til everyone including self is dead' fare. however this takes a surprisingly different turn, making it more watchable. The 'big surprise' ending is pretty obvious but dont let that put you off.

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Post #: 26

flawed, but bloody entertaining. - 23/2/2010 12:42:59 AM

retranimator

Posts: 15
Joined: 20/2/2009

i will be the first to say this film was not scored badly, it does have many flaws but this is the first film in a long time that has really got in my head...but in a good way.
its full of very clever tricks and plot twists you just dont see comming,
both butler and foxx are on top form and from the bad press i really was not expecting much from this but have found my self watching it two days in a row now, something i never really do.
so sod what you read about this flick and make your own mind up about this clever little film and i hope you enjoy it as much as i did.

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Post #: 27

- - 12/3/2010 8:16:17 AM

strangeone

Posts: 44
Joined: 10/3/2010

I think Empire was spot on with this review.

Edited for Spoilers

< Message edited by shool -- 11/7/2011 10:19:03 AM >

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Post #: 28

Good thriller with admirable themes and message - 8/4/2010 11:47:21 PM

djphilips

Posts: 104
Joined: 26/12/2008
From: Malta

Law Abiding Citizen is such a good film in my book because it goes against the flow and takes more than one risky turn in its writing. None of the main characters are likeable, the choices they make are never the best ones and none of them actually get what they want in the end. Plus, for a thriller, there are surprising amounts of themes to be found and discussed. Intrigued?
The writing is easily the best thing about this thriller, as F Gary Gray's directing is slightly uninspirational at times and Jamie Foxx's performance can be seen as slightly lazy. He is certainly no match against Gerard Butler, who turns in one of his best performances yet and really makes the film an enjoyable experience.
Although this four star rating may be more generous than is acceptable, there is no doubt that you will be entertained and those looking for something with substance won't be disappointed either.

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Post #: 29

strangeone = Imbecile. - 9/4/2010 11:57:19 PM 1 votes

sonofjor-el

Posts: 74
Joined: 4/10/2005
From: Lincoln

Well for anyone hoping to watch this movie, without the ending being ruined, try not reading strangeone's so called attempt at a review. How anyone can be so utterly ignorant, and arrogant towards other people on this site is quite bewildering. Surely someone can moniter this site towards cretinous infants like this? That's the second time I have glanced at others reviews to find a non-warned spoiler.

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Post #: 30