<strong><span class="subhead">Law Abiding Citizen</span></strong></p><p>**</p><p><strong>R (bloody, brutal violence and torture, a scene of rape, pervasive strong language); 107 min.</strong></p><p><em> Law Abiding Citizen </em>is a glib, brutal and preposterous revenge fantasy, a take-the-law-in-your-own-hands rabble-rouser that taps into a lot of fears and genuine gripes about the American legal system. It’s the sort of movie Mel Gibson or Clint Eastwood might have made back in the day — a man survives the slaughter of his family by thugs and sets out to get even, and then some.</p><p> Gerard Butler has the title role, Clyde Shelton, a "tinkerer" who is stabbed during a home invasion. Jamie Foxx is Nick Rice, the politically ambitious Philadelphia prosecutor who lets one of the killers get off easy so the other will be executed.</p><p>Clyde may be "law abiding," but he’s got gadget skills and a sadistic streak. When he kills crooks and the legal eagles who kept them from justice, he makes them suffer. </p><p> Nick knows who is doing this and locks up Clyde. But since he’s the ultimate quarry in this blood feud, Nick must see those around him die at Clyde’s gadget-guru hands.</p><p> Butler gives Clyde a wicked glee at what he is doing but only a hint of the humanity he lost when his wife and daughter were slain. His battle-of-brains-and-wills scenes with Foxx don’t have a lot of snap, and that drains some energy off the film.</p><p> A rich canvas of character actors (Colm Meaney, Viola Davis) are mostly plot necessities. The Kurt Wimmer (<em>The Recruit</em>) script has a cruel wit, up until it falls apart in a dishonest and outlandish third act. </p><p> You’d like to hope filmmakers, outside of the horror genre anyway, don’t start from a place of utter cynicism. But we know exactly what we’re dealing with in <em>Law Abiding Citizen</em>. It’s a "Who dies next?" slasher film masquerading as a revenge thriller.</p><p>— Roger Moore Orlando Sentinel