You get one darling exchange between Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) and his young daughter before all bloody hell breaks loose in Law Abiding Citizen, a vicious thriller that can barely wait for the opening titles to end before getting the shitshow on the road. Clyde thinks he’s opening the door of his Philly home to the Fed Ex guy, or the delivery guy — some kind of innocuous guy — but instead he gets a bat to the face and a knife between his ribs. Two assailants kill his wife before his eyes; he passes out just as his daughter is hauled off for the same fate. It’s a brutal opener, and the utter randomness of the violence is supposed to help fire our sympathy for Clyde to a high, vengeful flame. I wish director F. Gary Gray (The Italian Job), had had a little more sympathy for the rest of us, particularly those just trying to finish their Fresca without choking.
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