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10-20-2009
We Abide
It's always great when a good drama comes along and you can spend two hours in a theater with something that isn't a remake or a sequel to a mediocre superhero or toy film. Law Abiding Citizen is just such a drama.
Starring Gerard Butler as Clyde Shelton and Jamie Foxx as Nick Rice, Citizen is the story of a man seeking payback against the system that let him down after the murder of his wife and daughter.
Josh Stewart and Christian Stolte, as Ames and Darby, are the men responsible for the murders of Shelton's family and his revenge begins with them. First, Ames, at his scheduled state execution and then with Darby, dismembered piece by piece.
As the film progresses, Rice is pulled back into the case along with two detectives, Dunnigan and Garza, played by Colm Meaney and Michael Irby. Shelton gives Rice opportunities to learn from the mistakes made surrounding the original prosecution of Ames and Darby and any time he fails to learn Shelton's lesson, another person associated with the original trial is killed.
The gadgets that Shelton creates to eliminate his targets are ingenious and at times feel like something Jigsaw would come up with in a Saw film. There's also one thing about Shelton that I guessed just from seeing the trailers, he's a former “brain” for the spy world. I'd guessed from the trailers that he'd be a former spy or special forces guy, or something similar, and he was...but that didn't really impact the film in a negative way. There's a 10 year gap between the murder of Shelton's wife and daughter and the main events of the film. It wouldn't be any more of a stretch of the imagination to think that a guy bent on revenge could learn and plot his moves over that period of time than believing that he had to be a former spook in order to get it done.
One thing that I liked about Citizen is that it relied on relatively analog technology and police work to tell the story. Too many recent films of a similar nature have relied on the crutch of having the characters be hackers and tech geeks that never have to leave a keyboard to unleash their mayhem, or stop it. Having Dunnigan and Garza doing actual police work or watching Rice compare property sale prices by hand was solid real-life storytelling, and much appreciated.
Butler's Shelton is an anti-hero in this film and we sympathize with him even as he begins his revenge, but that changes somewhere in the middle of the film and when the final showdown between Shelton and Rice occurs, you suddenly find that you're rooting for Rice. I'm not sure at exactly what point in the film that change happened, it seemed to sneak up on me as I was watching. If I were force to pick a point, I'd probably choose the scene when Rice's assistant Sarah Lowell, played by the gorgeous Leslie Bibb, becomes a victim in one of Shelton's lessons.
Law Abiding Citizen has an excellent cast that also included Bruce McGill as DA Jonas Cantrell, Gregory Itzin as Warden Iger, Regina Hall as Rice's wife Kelly and Viola Davis as the Mayor.
The film was shot in Philadelphia, PA and it was cool to see some familiar locations on screen. The plot, while having a few pieces that will seem similar to other films, was well thought out, mostly original and had fast, even pacing.
As I said earlier, I felt like the hero in the film was Shelton but by the end I was rooting for Rice. It's interesting to me that a film can still keep a surprise like that, and spring it on you without you realizing it till the end. That's what good writing will do for you. There were a few things that weren't as well done, like Shelton being a former spy type, but they definitely weren't in the majority.
Law Abiding Citizen is not necessarily the type of film you need to see on the big screen, but if you're looking for a well written, intelligent, adult drama to spend a couple dollars on, you won't go wrong by catching this in theaters. Foxx is always fun to watch and Butler has quickly established himself as a solid presence on screen. Law Abiding Citizen is an excellent film that I think everyone should catch at some point. Four wheels of cheddar out of five!
10-5-2009
MyTube
Last week on Monday, NBC debuted their new drama, "Trauma." I taped it and watched the excellent "Greek" on ABC Family instead, but sat down and watched "Trauma" this weekend.
Blah.
There were a few bright spots of action on the show but it generally lacked anything fresh and new and there were no interesting characters that you wanted to watch again. You can throw all the explosions and helicopter crashes you want into the first episode of a show, but having a mouthy guy sexting on his cell phone be the ultimate bad guy in your climactic accident is either a blatant attempt at social commentary or just a lame excuse for blowing shit up.
Either way, I will not be watching this show again. "Third Watch" did paramedics better and had much more interesting characters.
Surrogates
If you noticed a complete lack of a movie review last weekend for Surrogates, it's not because you're losing your sight...but seriously, you probably shouldn't be "walking the dog" that much anyway, if you know what I'm sayin'.
It's another case of me not bothering to take the time to sit in a theater for another film. I think four films in September was a little ambitious anyway. So, I skipped it. The DVD will be out in a couple months anyway and I'm sure I'll need something to watch in the winter when it's cold and icy and the fickle networks have relegated my favorite TV shows to the permanent DL list.
Anyway, I have a much more attainable movie agenda for October, the only film on it right now is Law Abiding Citizen with Gerard Butler and Jamie Fox. Granted, the last time I put faith in Butler (Gamer) I was a little let down but I think this film will be a little better.
And I may have skipped it opening weekend, but I'm thinking about sliding into the theater next weekend to catch Zombieland. I initially passed on this as zombie films aren't really my thing, but the more I've read and after seeing a couple more trailers, I think this might be a fun movie to catch on the big screen, especially since I'm unlikely to pick up the DVD later on.