Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010

"Law Abiding Citizen"

There are films that are bad from beginning to end. There are films that have elements that make it bad, poor acting, etc. Then there are the films that end so badly that the entire movie is only remembered for the dirty taste you have in your mouth as the credits roll. "Law Abiding Citizen" is the latter. Butler does a passable, almost good job as the previously mentioned, vengeful husband/father. I, like most of America, have totally bought into the Jamie Foxx hype. I may be under the influence of the alaaaaaalcohol, but I enjoy Fox mimicking a young Denzel - that terse look and tense dialogue, that confident smirk. The overall feel of the film is dirty and gray, in a good way. The good-guy-turned-criminal-mastermind-by-grief is fresh at first but as the film wears on, the reasoning is lost and soon moves from a witty/gritty plot into cliche and meandering. This is one of those "coulda" movies. It could have been a unique battle of wits. It could have been a chess game where the lines of morality get blurred. It could have been an examination of the rage and grief in survivors of murdered loved ones. It could have been a tense, suspenseful thriller, that grabs you and won't let you go from scene to scene. Instead, it grabs you until the end when you realize you just don't care.