This is a really stupid movie. Law Abiding Citizen is the kind of movie where a mild mannered dad is actually a CIA / think tank employee who specializes in "kinetic movement" operations. This means he can kill people from far away with a deadly necktie. Seriously. You need to stay on this guy's good side.
Obviously when a guy like this is a targeted by a low-life home invader, and his family is killed, he expects the law to take care of it. When they don't, because of evidence not allowed in court, sloppy police work and deal-making by the DA, Gerard Butler's mild-mannered dad has one thing to say: his vengeance - "it's gonna be biblical".
(The better line was in Pulp Fiction: "I'm gonna go medieval on your ass.")
Anyway, the acting is over-the-top bad. Viola Davis plays the mayor, and that chick can act. But this movie is not a good forum for it. In such a ridiculous plot, serious acting just ends up as telenovela type stuff. And of course, Gerard Butler can't act at all. There is an obligatory butt shot / stomach shot of his body, but not enought to keep us gals watching. More male nudity is needed in a movie this ridiculous.
The sets are really funny. Much of the time Gerard is in prison, and he is interviewed in a cell like Hannibal's makeshift one (the one where he takes out everyone with a pen and has on the face mask - you know the one.) So there is Gerard sitting in a cupola-type cage in a cathedral-like room. The place is dark and dank, like Alcatraz. Maybe that's what prison is like in Philadelphia? And then we have the tunnels. This is one of those movies where super-spies can get anywhere, anytime, and no one notices them digging tunnels for ten years under public buildings.
Here's another bit of sparkling dialog as a tease: "Fuck his civil rights".
BTW, this movie is nominally about the mess in the deal-making justice system. Watch Primal Fear instead of this - much better acting - better twist - better everything.
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