What would you do if two men broke into your house, stabbed you, and then raped your wife and killed your daughter in front of you? Not only that, but one guy rolls on the other after being apprehended, and, while one gets sentenced to lethal injection, the other walks after three years of 'hard' time. You'd probably bleed a little at first, then stew in your anger for 10 years, and then methodically plan out the dumbest, most implausible form of revenge you could think of, wouldn't you? I knew it!

Such is the premise for Law Abiding Citizen, the latest from director F. Gary Gray (Italian Job, A Man Apart, and several R. Kelly Videos). Gerard Butler plays the judiciously wronged father, while Jamie Foxx plays the well-to-do lawyer who is seeking to advance his career by keeping his conviction percentage high. Upon being wronged both by the aforementioned stabber/rapers and by the justice system, Butler takes the law into his own hands and tries to create what could have been a fun little revenge flick. Unfortunately, though, things go horribly wrong.

more after the jump...

Apparently, in the 10 years since the incident, we are supposed to believe Butler somehow managed to become some CIA super spy with his inventor background. He is the guy who can kill a man without ever being in the same room. This could be a logical leap I'd be willing to make if the film ever bothered to illustrate any of this to us. You see someone's head blow up from answering their cell phone. How? Why? Did he switch phones? None of that is answered, an audience is just supposed to throw some popcorn in their face and go, 'aaaaaaWESOME!" 

But that's the least of the films problems. The overall point of the picture is that justice isn't just, and our system is broken. Butler is supposed to be what is "right" but then completely undermines every point with almost every action. Well, that's okay as long as Foxx learns what he can from the righteous Butler who just lost his way. But no, Foxx completely undermines the film's point too. So, the pointless film with implausible scenarios is bad enough, but throw in some meaningless twist and turns, and you got yourself a full-on fall stinker.

There is some silver lining to the picture; sometimes the deaths could be deemed "cool" or "inventive", and Butler and Foxx do solid jobs in the acting department. Also, there are a couple of scenes where Butler flat-out laughs in the face of our judicial system and how ridiculous it is, and that's to be applauded, but ultimately it undoes none of the movies failures. The ending might seem inventive to some, but given how it contradicts the rest of the film, it just left me feeling cheated. It's difficult to get into specifics without spoiling, but rest assured it's dumb.

Stay away, stay far away from this Law Abiding Citizen. He may seem like an Inside Man-like suspense/revenge movie, but he's not. He's a ruthless, mindless criminal out to stab and rape you of your money.

--Greg MacLennan