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| Movie Review: Law Abiding Citizen Alternate Title: Revenge is a Dish Best Served Cold
Story: Revenge can be very sweet,
highly entertaining and has been an ongoing theme on the big screen
for a long time. However, when the film maker loses sight of the reason
for the revenge - huge plot holes can open up and a film quickly goes
down the toilet. Sadly, director F. Gary Gray (The
Italian Job) and writer Kurt Wimmer fall into that
rabbit hole.
Engineer and family man, Clyde Shelton's wife
and daughter are brutally murdered during a home invasion. After the
killers are caught, Philadelphia hot shot, prosecutor Nick Rice, in
an effort to keep his conviction rate at 96% makes a deal that allows
one of the killers to serve a light sentence and the other goes to death
row. This abuse of the judicial system does not sit well with our grieving
engineer, now widower.
Fast forward 10 years and the mayhem begins.
Admittedly, watching the two murderers get their just rewards (however
gruesome) was satisfying. If the film had ended there, it would have
been considered a short. So, for another hour we endure the bodies piling
up and after awhile my movie buddy and I would just point and snicker
at which character was going to be whacked next.
The productions values were fine but sadly, the
script was murdered along the way. Unlike their license plates,
You do NOT have a friend in Pennsylvania in this bummer film.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMoP35u8oN0 Acting: Jamie Foxx, who usually surprises me with
his acting, essentially grunted through this film. I do not know what
the fuss is all about when it come to Gerard Butler.
He does not appeal to me nor did I notice any acting skills in this
film at all. Steady screen presences, Bruce McGill, Colm Meaney
and Viola Davis all handed in fine performances
given what they had to work with.
Trivia: Director F. Gary Gray won
Best Video of the Year for Directing the TLC's "Waterfalls"
video at the 1995 MTV Music Video Awards. Gerard Butler
went to Glasgow University where he studied to be a lawyer/solicitor.
He is Scottish, but is of partial Irish ancestry. He has a tiny pug
your could fit in your palm named Lolitta he fell in love with while
walking by a pet shop.
Predilection: Sometimes gratuitous violence is very
entertaining.
Critters: None, thankfully.
Food: A big scene involving a porterhouse steak,
pasta and asparagus.
Blatant Product Placement: Apple, Duxiana beds, Pepsi
Soundtrack: Loud, louder and loudest.
Opening Titles: The horrific home invasion which
leads to the revenge part of the film comes before the title. All other
credits at the end.
Visual Art: The prison scenes were filmed at Broadmeadows
prison, which is very much like Eastern States prison and can be visited
in Philadelphia. I have been there and it is one cool tour.
Theater Audience: About 10 other people and us. FYI
- my movie buddy liked Saw VI. Need I say more? Weather: It was so cold while filming this movie, I pointed
out to my movie buddy that you could see the breaths of the actors even
while they were indoors.
Sappy Factor: 0
Quirky Meter: 0
Squirm Scale: The revenge killings are pretty squirmy.
Drift Factor: I did not drift.
Predictability Level: High
Tissue Usage: 0
Oscar Worthy: No
Big Screen or Rental: Rental would be fine.
Length: 110 minutes
LOBO HOWLS: 4
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