Law Abiding Citizen

During a home invasion, Clarence Darby rapes and murders the wife and daughter of engineer Clyde Shelton, who is forced to watch. Prosecuting attorney Nick Rice is unable to convict Darby due to mishandled evidence. Unwilling to risk lowering his high conviction rate, he makes a deal with Darby; he testifies against his accomplice Rupert Ames (who only intended to steal from Clyde) so he is convicted and sentenced to death, while Darby pleads guilty to third-degree murder and receives a lighter sentence. Clyde feels betrayed by Nick and the justice system.

Ten years later, during Ames' execution via lethal injection, he surprisingly dies in agonizing pain. The police find the chemicals had been tampered with and evidence left behind implicates Darby; an anonymous caller warns him law enforcement is on their way to arrest him. Following the caller's instructions, Darby hijacks a police car, forcing a lone officer to drive to a deserted warehouse. The officer is revealed to be Clyde, the caller. Darby attempts to shoot Clyde, but instead, the gun paralyzes Darby with tetrodotoxin-coated spikes. Clyde then straps Darby to a table and makes medical preparations to prolong Darby's suffering, recording himself slowly dismembering and eventually murdering Darby. When Darby's remains are found, Clyde willingly turns himself in and goes to prison.

In prison, Clyde demands a new mattress in his cell in exchange for a "confession." Nick initially refuses, but after learning that Clyde traumatized Nick's family with the video of Darby's murder, District Attorney Jonas Cantrell orders Nick to make the deal. In court, Clyde represents himself and successfully argues he should be granted bail, but instead criticizes the judge for accepting the legal precedent he cited, believing the judge is too easily convinced and eager to release potential criminals; Clyde is then denied bail and also jailed for contempt of court.

After giving Nick his confession, Clyde demands an elaborate steak lunch from Del Frisco's and his iPod be delivered to his cell by a specific time, in exchange for the location of Darby's now-missing lawyer. Nick agrees though the lunch is delayed a few minutes courtesy of the warden's security measures. Once he has his meal, Clyde provides the coordinates to the lawyer's location, but Darby's lawyer still suffocates inside a box due to a time-mechanized device. Meanwhile, Clyde kills his cellmate after sharing his meal, forcing the warden to secure him in solitary confinement.

Cantrell and Nick meet Bray, a CIA contact who knows about Clyde's past employment with the agency; Clyde's CIA employment consisted of eliminating nearly impossible targets. They are warned Clyde can kill anyone anytime he wishes and that his imprisonment may be part of a bigger plan. Bray finishes the meeting by suggesting to Nick and Cantrell that their best option is to kill Clyde. During a meeting with Nick and Cantrell, the judge is killed by an explosive hidden in her cell phone. Clyde explains to Nick that the murders are not about revenge, but the failures of the justice system. Clyde demands his release and all charges dropped to end the killings.

Nick takes precautionary measures instead, moving his entire team to the prison to work throughout the night. After Clyde's deadline passes without incident, Nick releases his team. While walking to his car, all of Nick's legal assistants are killed in car bombings, including his friend Sarah Lowell. Nick privately meets Clyde, beating and yelling at him in frustration that, if they had tried to convict Ames and Darby, they might have gone free. Clyde counters that Nick is apathetic and that if he had at least tried but failed, Clyde would have accepted it. Nick demands an end to the killings, but Clyde responds that he is just beginning. While leaving Sarah's funeral, Cantrell is killed by a weaponized bomb disposal robot. Nick prepares to resign, but the irate mayor instead promotes Nick to acting District Attorney and locks the city down.

Nick learns that Clyde owns a building near the prison. A tunnel inside leads to a cache of guns, disguises, and other equipment below the solitary confinement cells, with secret entrances to each cell. Nick realizes that Clyde intentionally sought solitary confinement, allowing him to leave the prison undetected and kill while misleading the police. Evidence points to Clyde's next target, City Hall, where the mayor is holding an emergency meeting. Nick and his men fail to find Clyde, instead discovering a suitcase bomb planted in the room below the meeting.

Clyde returns to his cell and is surprised to find Nick waiting for him. Clyde suggests another deal, but an enlightened Nick replies that he no longer makes deals with murderers. Nick tries to reason with Clyde, but Clyde activates the suitcase bomb. Nick immediately leaves, locking Clyde's cell behind him while Dunnigan closes off the secret passage. Hearing the ringtone of the detonator, Clyde discovers the bomb Nick hid underneath his bed. Clyde briefly smiles and returns to his bed, looking at his daughter's bracelet as the bomb explodes.

The epilogue shows Nick and his wife watching their daughter perform on cello a classical music piece, an after-school staged event that he previously had failed to find time to attend.

• Jamie Foxx as Nicholas "Nick" Rice, a Philadelphia prosecutor who later became the Acting District Atourney
• Gerard Butler as Clyde Shelton, an experienced engineer seeking revenge against Philadelphia's justice system after his family received no justice
• Viola Davis as April Henry, Incumbent Mayor of Philadelphia
• Bruce McGill as Jonas Cantrell, Philadelphia's District Attorney
• Leslie Bibb as Sarah Lowell, Nick's assistant
• Colm Meaney as Detective Dunnigan, a homicide detective for the Philadelphia Police Department
• Regina Hall as Kelly Rice, Nick's wife
• Michael Kelly as Bray, a CIA agent who warns Rice about Shelton
• Michael Irby as Detective Garza, Dunnigan's partner
• Roger Bart as Brian Bringham
• Christian Stolte as Clarence Darby, a psychotic criminal personally responsible for murdering Clyde's wife and daughter
• Gregory Itzin As Warden Iger, the warden of the prison Shelton was sent to
• Emerald-Angel Young as Denise Rice, Nick's daughter
• Annie Corley as Judge Laura Burch, a Philadelphia judge whose decision created ire for Shelton
• Richard Portnow as Bill Reynolds, Darby's lawyer
• Josh Stewart as Rupert Ames, a thug who assisted Darby in the home invasion

Gerard Butler was initially signed on to play the prosecuting attorney, while Jamie Foxx was the criminal mastermind operating from inside prison,^[6] a reversal of their roles in the final version.

Frank Darabont was expected to direct the film, but he left the production due to creative differences with the producers.^[7]

Filming began on January 17, 2009, and took place in and around Philadelphia.^[8] Filming locations included Philadelphia's City Hall, Laurel Hill Cemetery^[9] and the now closed Holmesburg Prison. Holmesburg's "Thunderdome command center" is quite evident in the movie.

The film was edited after being threatened with an NC-17 rating for violence,^[10] with the full version released unrated on Blu-ray.

The score to Law Abiding Citizen was composed by Brian Tyler, who recorded his score with a 52-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Sony Scoring Stage with help from Kieron Charlesworth.^[11] The film also uses "Eminence Front" by The Who and "Engine No. 9" by Deftones on Clyde's iPod while he is eating his steak in his cell. While Clyde calls Darby to help him 'escape' the police after Ames' execution, "Bloodline" by Slayer is Darby's ringer. The tune at the end for closing credits is "Sin's A Good Man's Brother" by Grand Funk Railroad.

The film was released theatrically on October 16, 2009, in the United States.^[12] The first theatrical trailer was released on August 14, 2009, and was attached to District 9.^[13]

The premiere was held on November 15, 2009, at the Cineworld complex in Glasgow, Butler's hometown. Many British tabloids labelled the event as the "Homecoming Premiere", about the Homecoming Scotland 2009 celebrations.^[14]

Law Abiding Citizen grossed $73.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $54.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $127.9 million.^[2]

The film took second place in its opening weekend, with $21 million, behind Where the Wild Things Are. It went on to gross $126.6 million in total worldwide.^[15]

Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 26% of 162 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The site's critical consensus states: "Unnecessarily violent and unflinchingly absurd, Law Abiding Citizen is plagued by subpar acting and a story that defies reason."^[16] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 34 out of 100 based on 26 critics, indicating "generally unfavourable reviews".^[17]

In his review for the Chicago Sun Times, Roger Ebert said, "Law Abiding Citizen is the kind of movie you will like more at the time than in retrospect." He then went on to say, "Still, there's something to be said for a movie you like well enough at the time." Ebert rated the film three out of four stars.^[18]

In May 2022, it was announced that a standalone sequel was in development. Kurt Wimmer was hired to return to his role as screenwriter, while Gerard Butler will serve as producer alongside Alan Siegel, Lucas Foster, Rob Paris, and Mike Witherill. Foster stated in his returning role as a producer that the studios look forward to "revisit[ing] these great characters" stating that the premise "seems even more relevant today than when...the original film" was released. The filmmaker stated: "We’re going to blow your mind… again." While the plot has not been revealed, Paris and Witherill jointly stated that the creatives involved, see the movie as a "franchise opportunity [y]." The project will be a joint-venture production between G-Base Productions, Rivulet Films, Warp Films, and Village Roadshow Pictures.^[19]

• Vigilante film
• List of films featuring home invasions

 

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