Gerard Butler in Law Abiding Citizen Options

[Peter Everhard]

Law Abiding Citizen has A-List Actors and A-List production values. However, “the mentality” of Law Abiding Citizen is the same mentality that produced The Classic Grindhouse Revenger Movies of the 70's.

Law Abiding Citizen, with Gerard Butler and Jamie Fox, is just a fancy looking Grindhouse Revenge Movie.

As with Classic Grindhouse, Law Abiding Citzen starts out with The Narcissistic Wound that will be used to drive the main character's Revenge Rampage. The Classic Narcissistic Wound of Revenge Movies was probably the assault on Charles Bronson's family in Death Wish, the movie that gave birth to Bronson's Revenge Movie Franchise.

In Law Abiding Citizen, the home invasion assault on Gerard Butler's family that leaves his wife and kid dead is so IMMEDIATE in the movie that the whole thing plays out as some kind of cartoon. Since we don't get to know Butler's Family, the movie ASSUMES we will FEEL for these Stock Characters simply because of their Designations as Wife and Child. I think all we ever see of Butler's wife is a fleeting side shot of her face while she is being held down on the floor.

Also, as with Classic Grindhouse, Law Abiding Citizen makes very little sense. The LOGIC of the movie is that Gerard Butler, a Black Ops Expert skilled at coming up with exotic ways to kill high value targets for the Military, that this Gerard Butler wouldn't have the common sense to have a home security system, that he would open the door to his home without first determining who was on the otherside of the door.

I could go on and on about the shit in Law Abiding Citizen that makes no sense. Movies like Law Abiding Citizen are an assault on the emotions because they are not smart enough to EARN our empathy for the characters they victimize.