Law Abiding Citizen Discussion

Thats pretty much what I have heard, thats a shame.

I didn't mind the third act...then the last five or so minutes happen with geography stupider than Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Ah, I thought you meant the third act as a whole.

Be Cool, Greg... Be Cool...

No, his anger is justified. I loved this film until it's ending.

I said BE COOL!!!

Like Fonzie cool?

Be Cool as in the last crapanilla movie F. Gary Gray directed. In total agreement with Ed Norton's adage.

I swear to Christ, if they pull some Prestige-esque bullshit on this one, I will be very, very upset because man, Gerard Butler needs a win. Badly. Half a win? Maybe? Don't ask me why I think they're going to pull something like that, it's just...I dunno.
There's something about the this one that makes me want it to succeed. Will it?

The third act has issues, but it's worth seeing for sure. Butler is so great.

I loved his accent.

Quoted for the truth.

Greg, you asshole. I go out of town and you see Law Abiding Citizen?

I just NOW got around to Zombieland, you fucker.

Okay, but the general consensus is "See it anyway." yes? Cause that's what I want it to be.

Yes, Jared. The third act may have more problems than Lindsay Lohan, but it doesn't completely murder the incredibly fun ride the movie takes you on.

Pretty much great, until the last 60 seconds. The movie was rocking massive balls until the end.

So when do we get the full story on Frank Darabont's departure? I'm sure it's worth hearing.

I thought maybe Darabont had left over problems with the ending, but I'm reading his 9/19/08 rewrite of Wimmer's script, and the current ending is there, with a few minor tweaks (Clyde at first is angry over his predicament before accepting it).

If I may ask, what will happen if he doesn't get a win? Specifically how will it effect his career?

I didn't know Darabont ever had anything to do with the script, and I find it surprising that his rewrite would be much like the final movie at all. Of course, who knows how much control he had over the project.

I never had any real interest in the movie, but by happenstance I ended up seeing it tonight with some friends. I enjoyed it okay up until around the halfway mark, after which it fell apart because it couldn't keep up with the direction it decided to take the Butler character. I'd assumed going in that the movie was going to be preposterous, but once we got to the mine shaft tunnel laced with schematics and master plans, and the reveal that Butler was essentially an all-powerful genius spying on everyone in the world via a network of monitors, the necessary suspension of disbelief stopped being evened out by what the movie had to trade in excitement.

I also found the ending strangely abrupt and confused. The bomb seemed like just the latest of Butler's attacks that had to be thwarted, and it just didn't feel properly built up as the movie's climactic piece. The movie had conditioned me to expect something bigger and more insane just around the corner. I also by that point had utterly given up on figuring out what Butler's real goal was, despite the movie's earlier sequences suggesting that his message and worldview were more defined and explainable, however warped. The focus on the safety of Fox and his family ended up being completely abandoned, which sort of surprised me, because that's where I thought things were heading. Ultimately, the movie felt like it wanted to be three different movies, even though any one of those movies, if properly fleshed out, made for material that was plenty meaty enough to warrant an approach with actual depth. The whole "the system is broken" exploration is flaunted but never really followed through with.

Incidentally, they really dropped the ball with the sequence where everyone's nervously watching the clock hit the 6am deadline. Gerard Butler said he'd kill "everyone." If the movie would have cut to a wide shot in space of the Earth suddenly erupting in flames, this would have been Best Picture material, and honestly no sillier than what actually did unspool in act three.

Up to Butler's courtroom scene, it works pretty well (apart from Foxx's cliched family issues, and the trite intercutting of the recital with the execution). After that, you just keep refusing to believe it could possibly be heading down the road of stupidity that it seems to be... but darned if it doesn't. Honestly, the device in the cemetery had me laughing out loud: reminded me of one of those cute robots that used to battle it out on Discovery Channel.

And it's a small point (like worrying about the color of the curtains on the Titanic), but the climax was almost pointless: who the hell cares whether or not he blows up the mayor? Every character we've got an investment in is already dead (or out of the city); what's another dozen or so at that point, unless at least one of them is someone we care about?

You do know that robot's real, right?

The EMP gun might not be...but those things really do exist. And they really do kick a whole lot of ass.

ETA - In fact, I think they used the TALON.

I have no doubt.

I remember on the Equilibrium commentary track, Kurt Wimmer said he refused to have Bale fight the henchman because it's what everyone expected, he therefore opted for a quick clean kill. I think the same logic applies here, in a film like this we probably expected some massive Saw-esque twist ending, therefore the most surprising thing would be to just have a clean, simple ending instead.

This doesn't mean it wasn't intensely underwhelming.

OK, but I'm not sure that Butler's character having spent ten years re-creating "The Great Escape" under the noses of the prison administrators qualifies as "simple."

You're right that the ending is a little too neat, but overall it was a satisfying experience. It was like they just put a plate of scenery in front of Butler and said 'Go to town!' and he digs in with abandon. He's so great and Foxx ain't half bad, though I kept wondering when he was going to bang whatsherface.

Fortunately for me (since my wife's a huge fan), I basically like Butler, but jeez, he has subjected me to three movies this year that range from underwhelming to utter crap.

At this point, I'm ready to skip his movies and just wait for him to turn up on Ferguson's show.

I didn't dislike the ending of this movie at all. Seriously awesome movie that will likely stick at the #10 spot on my best-of-09 list.

Nice to know that Jamie Foxx's character has no problem with carrying a live explosive to Butler's cell. He must have balls of steel.

I'm with everyone in agreeing that the ending is absolute crap and basically ruins the movie. I'm pretty sure everyone watching it was rooting for Butler to win.

I haven't seen this but have heard a lot about it. My younger brother (age 18) and his friends LOVED it though. They couldn't quit talking about it, though most of the talk was, "The ending was stupid but HE STABBED SOMEONE TO DEATH WITH A T-BONE!"

The movie was so entertaining for most of its runtime... then it ended. It left me thinking, "All this was so that Jamie Foxx learns that he should go see his daughter's recital!?!?!"

But that cell-phone kill on the judge. I thoroughly enjoyed that. It's set up so perfectly.

Butler was so much fun. There is nothing in the movie that makes you not cheer for the chaos he throws down. You totally root for him. And the movie's ending just fizzles in that regard.

And thank you to this thread for pointing out the T-bone shank. I was kinda dense wondering where he got the knife.

I'm not a law expert, but can an attorney just cut a deal without his client's permission?

THE DEAL IS DONE!
Jamie deserved to be punished a little.

He WAS punished! His daughter saw torture porn without his permission!!!!

... pfft.

I thought for sure that one of Butler's plans was to work up the other prisoners into a riotous frenzy with all the special treatment he was getting.

Was one damn fine-looking steak, though.

"Put yourself down for 30%, my man"

This movie would be pretty boring without Butler's performance.

Made me want to buy a DUX bed.

When I rent this on dvd, I think I'll skip right to the courtroom scene.

"No I don't think I will excuse you!"

As I think I mentioned above, since my wife's a big fan of Butler's, I'm really glad I generally enjoy his work too, because I think I've seen just about everything he's ever done.

Just watched this, and really liked it up to the often-mentioned 5 Minutes before the end.
However, it wasnt such a clear-cut "cheer for Butlers character" movie as it seems to have been for all of you. I kinda saw things good and bad in both Foxx and Butler, and I sincerely think this movie, if it had taken another 30 minutes, a different ending and spent some of the additional time into one or two pieces of dialogue to flesh out Butlers beliefs, it would have been an amazingly good movie, AND provided ample discussion fodder.

What I really liked is that, if you think about it for a moment, Butler is not just right, he proves it every other minute. There is no way to stop him, because the system is not working for justice, it can be made to work for whoever has the power and ability. The judges, the mayor (thats the black lady repeatedly cussing out Foxx, if I remember correctly?), in order to even try to get him under control, have to bend or break the law, because in this situation, the system is completely unable to cope with it.
The courtroom scene is amazing. I completely didnt expect Butlers reaction to when the judge was about to let him leave on bail, and I kinda started figuring out that this movie would never ever let the system, in an attempt to "out-goodguy" Butler, win.
In the end, Foxx had to do exactly what the guy in the subway, an ex-colleague of Butlers character ,told him: Some people you cant try to work the system, then go home and leave your work at the office. This guy you just have to go and kill to make him stop.

Funny enough, I was actually on Foxx' side in the initial trial about the two home invaders. Maybe my sense of justice is different due to coming from a different legal system here in europe, and a somewhat different set of values, but 3rd degree murder + deathrow seemed reasonable once it was out that the case was beginning to fold due to errors made in evidence gathering etc.

Great fun, for most of the time. And refreshing in a way, a new take on revenge drama.

If this movie didn't have Butler in it, it would've been terrible. I wish he'd played a Scott though, its an awesome accent.

Yeah, really fun film. Well made, great concept, last 5 minutes are crap.

We are all agreed on this. Now can we get some love for Colm Meany? There's a guy that should be working more.

I thought Foxx was totally miscast. I just couldn't see him being that character at all.
Also, this was gory was fuck. LOVED that.

A fun take on the super serial killer genre, which is pretty much all serial killer films these days. But yeah, the ending sucks. Generally hate it when films that deal with comeuppance in this ham-fisted way. So I was rooting for Butler's character all the way, hoping that Foxx's DA would keep getting a world of shit piled on top. Foxx is good and all but I was impressed with Butler's range here.

Shared complaints with the ending/Foxx not getting enough comeuppance aside.. let's talk about the fucking bomb for a second here.

So, not only does Foxx manage to outrace Butler back to the prison even though we see Butler leaving the building before they even check out the bomb, but he outraces him back and gets a GIANT NAPALM BOMB that will surely destroy the fuck out of the prison past the warden, the warden who had a steak and asparagus meal thoroughly checked *twice* before letting it in even though a man's life was on the clock.

Yeah.

Otherwise, Gerard is tops here and I wish more movies had t-bone shanking scenes. Just beautiful.

Even if any of that made sense, it still wouldn't explain why Foxx would be dumb enough to put a fucking bomb in his car and drive it to the prison just so he can teach Butler a little lesson.

The problem isn't really the ending so much as it is the setup that leaves you with no other possible ending (short of the supernatural).