Law Abiding Citizen, starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler, is currently the ninth-most-watched film on HBO. It seems like a weird time for a thriller from 15 years ago to take off, but the audience has the right idea. Producers announced a sequel to Law Abiding Citizen in 2022, though there hasn’t been a word on the subject since. The film has enough star power to drag it onto various streaming top ten lists whenever it finds a new home. Its popularity remains bizarre to anyone who has seen it.
Jamie Foxx’s Law Abiding Citizen Sets Things Right on HBO Max
Law Abiding Citizen follows Gerard Butler as Clyde Shelton, an engineer who loses his wife and daughter to a deranged murderer. Jamie Foxx stars as prosecutor Nick Rice, who makes a plea deal with the killer. Shelton takes a decade to plan an impressively elaborate revenge scheme. Once he avenges himself upon his family’s murderer, Shelton goes to prison. Somehow, the killings continue, even as Shelton rots in solitary confinement. Rice quickly discovers that Shelton’s targets go far beyond the killer. He’s targeting every agent of the corrupt criminal justice system that refused to give him the retribution he craved. Shelton’s quest for vengeance is almost comically brutal, but there’s clearly a contingent of viewers who agree with him. It’s a movie for the type of angry dad who believes that the American legal system is unsalvageable and that one violent man could solve everything.
The draw of Law Abiding Citizen is in its violence, but the critics didn’t buy in. Most celebrated Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler, but the plot doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. Butler, the villain of the piece, is a slightly more believable version of Jigsaw. The Saw franchise has its gimmick, but it never seems even slightly grounded. Clyde Shelton teleports around like Jason Voorhees, but he’s at least buff and bold enough to seem capable of some feats. I find it hard to imagine many hardcore fans of this movie not rooting for Shelton. Not because his ideology has even a shred of logic to it, but because he appeals to the type of unhinged “don’t tread on me” psychosis endemic to certain social strata. The movie doesn’t make Butler the good guy, but it barely explicitly condemns him.
As it stands, Law Abiding Citizen is a watchable thriller that succeeds on virtues it didn’t aim for. It’s compelling for its excessive violence and cruelty, but enjoyable for its unintentional comedy. Gerard Butler makes enough action schlock to fill a weekend, but this is a bit smarter than his usual fare. Its excellent box-office performance justifies a sequel, but its ending doesn’t exactly leave the option open. I shudder to imagine Law Abiding Citizen in the modern climate. I would think this kind of thing ended when Bruce Willis failed to bring Death Wish back.
