Unlike its nasty sibling revenge, justice is not a dish best served cold. It’s better served with nuance, decorum and a dash of smarts. Now try telling that to screenwriter Kurt Wimmer and director F. Gary Gray of Law Abiding Citizen.

Rather than being up front about being a ultra-violent revenge thriller, Citizen smugly believes that it’s smarter than your average B-movie and is more inclined to consider itself a sharp legal thriller, à la The Devil’s Advocate. Of course, that’s complete hogwash; this is nothing more than a trashy Punisher sequel dressed up in a tailored suit.

Making immediate use of its MA15+ rating, the film begins with a brutal home invasion where Clyde Shelton’s (Gerard Butler) wife and daughter are murdered by a ruthless assailant and his accomplice.  Clyde’s prosecuting attorney, Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx), hastily cuts a deal that sees Clarence Darby (Christian Stolte) — the criminal responsible for the rape and murder — get a meagre five year sentence while his accomplice Ruper Ames (Josh Stewart) – who is only guilty of theft — receives the death penalty. Clyde is outraged by the injustice of the outcome; how can the man responsible be allowed to live? Why does Nick seem to consider this a victory? Clive wallows in his hatred for Clarence and the entire justice system over the next ten years, resulting in an gory act of revenge (or justice?) that lands him in jail.

But the story only begins there for the jaded, not-to-be-messed with Clyde. From the confines of his jail cell, the brainy engineer somehow manages to orchestrate the systematic killing of all those directly and indirectly responsible for botching up his court case. Before his number comes up, Nick must race against time and determine how Clyde’s managing to do it; does he have an outside accomplice? Or is he another Jigsaw from the Saw series and sets up death traps in advance?

The answers to these questions, however, are no way near as pressing the ones the audience will be asking as a result of the nonsensical train wreck they’re watching unfold: how come bad guys are always unlucky enough to pick on an ultra-intelligent, ex-military super soldier with an innate ability to predict actions perfectly in advance? Why on earth do lawyers in this movie also head murder investigations? And why would two Oscar winning actors, Jamie Foxx and Viola Davis (who plays the town’s Mayor), willingly sign-up to such garbage?
It’s painful watching such talent go to waste.

Wimmer’s (Ultraviolet, Equilibrium) screenplay seems to revel in absurdity while Gray’s (The Italian Job, Be Cool) direction makes the mistake of maintaining a straight face, causing every intelligent criticism of the lacklustre US justice system to be completely overshadowed by an onslaught of ridiculous narrative junctures. While the power play between Butler and Foxx is initially interesting as we’re torn between who to align with, the film progresses hastily to the point where the answer becomes clear; neither of them. Clyde is a sadistic nutcase who shouldn’t have been a father in the first place, while Nick is a self-serving dimwit who, after being told by an informant exactly how Clyde thinks and operates, does nothing useful with the information. This film is overflowing with stupid people, who make stupid decisions.

It doesn’t help that neither Foxx nor Butler impress, the latter fairing slightly better with his suitably callous delivery of otherwise garish dialogue.  In fact, the only real talent showcased here is that of cinematographer Jonathan Sela (Max Payne, The Midnight Meat Train), who makes the most of hard shadows and a muted palate to lend this pedestrian thriller a slick visual edge. Everything else, however, remains blunt.

In another time and place, Law Abiding Citizen could have been an intelligent critique of a  flawed criminal justice system. But that’d also be a time and place where provocative and smart movies sold movie tickets. So instead, I present you Gerard Butler, ruthlessly hacking a guy into 25 little pieces.

Follow the author Anders Wotzke on Twitter.

The Soloist (Review)

Harry Brown (Review)

Push (Review)

Fracture (Review)

Max Payne (Review)