Sunday 10 January 2010

Law Abiding Citizen



Well here is an exciting film! Not for the faint-hearted or those with a blood-phobia. I found it a perfect action movie into which I could escape. This is not the real world. Many critics however, slate the film and it hasn't done too well in the box office here. As one reviewer on Rotten Tomatoes puts it "Unnecessarily violent and unflinchingly absurd, Law Abiding Citizen is plagued by subpar acting and a story that defies reason."

The story is quite simple. Gerard Butler and his family experience a violent and random attack in their home where they are left for dead. Butler's character survives and he is understandably keen to see justice done to his attackers. The DA does a deal: one of the crooks testifies against the other and condemns him to execution. in return he gets a light gaol sentence.

Butler's character sees this as no justice at all and spends 10 years planning his atatck on the city's justice community. The way in which he carries out his threats is at times unbelievable, but when we learn what he actually did for the US Government, everything fits into place.

The film raises important questions about the American justice system and in particular the plea bargaining culture which undermines public confidence in the Judiciary.

I'll rate this film 6.5/10.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

6.5 out of 10? I think 2 points too low. This is a great story that may have contributed to a change in the judicial system. Movies that have the ability to improve society by exploiting the errors in its processes need to be celebrated. The ability for a 2 hour lesson to change perspectives, motivating people to change and improve the broken tragedy that is the American Judicial System needs a rating that deserves attention. 8.5/ 10.
Re-read this comment for the movie "A Time to Kill".
Duncan, you seriously gave "The King's Speech" 9/10. Are you paid by the movie marketers? That's time I don't get back in my life.

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