At the Movies with Fatwayne

This is another one of those movies that use “the magic formula”. This is the process whereby the villains commit a crime that is so vile that you have no choice but to hope that they get their just do. And boy, do they ever!

Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is a happy and satisfied man until two creeps invade his home and kill his wife and daughter while he helplessly watches since he is gravely wounded himself and is barely conscious. The perpetrators are caught and go to trial. The DA, Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) is more interested in his political future and his 96% conviction rate than seeing that justice prevails. He gets one of the convicts, Rupert Ames (Josh Stewart), the death sentence even though he was not the sadistic one who did the killing. The worst of the two, Clarence Darby (Christian Stolte) gets a deal and is sentenced to only ten years in prison. Clyde Shelton is furious at this perceived failure of the legal system and lets Nick Rice know it. Rice tells Shelton that it doesn’t matter what is right but what can be proven in court.

Ten years pass and it is time for the death sentence to be imposed on Rupert Ames. What should have been a routine execution turns out to be excruciatingly painful and prolonged because it appears that in exacting part of his revenge, Clyde manages to substitute one of the drugs used in the lethal injection.

About this time Clarence Darby is out of prison. He is framed  by Clyde and the police are hot on his trail. Darby escapes the authorities but is captured by Clyde who takes him to an abandoned warehouse. He tells Darby that he has injected him with a poison that renders him unable to move while all of his other senses are unaffected. He then begins to amputate fingers, toes, legs, arms and even Darby’s eyelids to ensure that he will witness the whole process. He has given Darby medications that will keep him alive and conscious until Clyde finally removes his head. About this time we start to suspect that despite the hurt Clyde has suffered, his elevator just might not be going to the top floor!

The evidence trail leads Rice to Shelton. He is eventually jailed for contempt of court after belittling the Judge who happens to be the same one involved in the case of his family’s murder ten years earlier. Shelton begins a campaign to kill everyone involved in the flawed (at least in his mind) legal proceedings pertaining to his family. Nick Rice is helpless to stop the murderous onslaught being perpetrated by Clyde Sheldon from his cell. By this time in the movie we can see quite clearly that Clyde, although extremely intelligent and adept, is suffering from a mental illness brought on by his tragedy.

How is Clyde managing all of this mayhem? Does he have an accomplice on the outside? These are the questions that Nick Rice must answer before everyone, including himself and his family are dead.

This is a very good, action packed film. Both Foxx and Butler deliver exemplary performances. If you like this genre, it should not disappoint you.

You can read quotes from this movie at  http://www.tvmoviequotes.com/lawabidingcitizen.htm

Rated – R -

Fatwayne’s Rating  –  -