Spoilers found a new guilty pleasure.

There’s a reason why revenge thrillers are a dime a dozen. It’s a well-know power fantasy trope that can fill seats. A good revenge plot will always provide some catharsis for the audience that empathizes with the protagonist. This feature goes for overkill on purpose. If this is supposed to be some meta commentary on justice, or on taking things too far you’ll probably find yourself wishing it actually went further. Let’s get into it.

(Credit: The Film Department)

Law Abiding Citizen (2009) is directed by F. Gary Gray and written by Kurt Wimmer. Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) is a family man who is a victim of a home invasion that results in the death of his wife and daughter in front of his eyes. Nick Rice (Jamie Fox) is the prosecutor in charge of the case. After Nick makes a deal to condemn one of the assailants but frees the actual killer, Clyde is disappointed in the system and disappears for ten years. When he appears again, he’s taking revenge on both the condemned and the killer. The problem for Nick is that Clyde is just beginning.

Contrary to the usual plot, we spend very little time knowing Clyde’s happy family era. This is actually a good thing, as most audiences are familiar and numb to the usual you-killed-my-family plot device. What Nick is about to learn is that Clyde not only has a secret past, he’s been using the time wisely and is several steps in front of anything that the justice system want to throw at him. Clyde is literally going after everyone. Every. One.

Works almost from beginning to end. There’s a rather violent payoff when you see the people in the justice system considered untouchable suddenly fearing for their lives. It’s a bit blurry on whether we’re supposed to cheer for Clyde or Nick, but it’s a guilty power fantasy to see people at all levels of government being alarmed when they find they are not untouchable. The ending does put on the brakes on what seems to a runaway train, leaving us to wonder whether this was the way it should have ended at all.

Recommended with reservations. The violence is rather unhinged, in the sense that you can easily become more emphatic with revenge but in this case it doesn’t stop at the mere perpetrators but continues almost unabated going up the chains of command. The ending is a bit underwhelming considering all the level of crazy from the rest of the film. Worth a watch for a late night.

That will do for now.