Wednesday 19 October 2011

Law Abiding Citizen 2009 (Directed by F. Gary Gray)

Today I watched the film Law Abiding Citizen and the film struck me straight away. I was struck by the opening scene of the film and also the remainder of the film but the opening sequence struck me more. In the opening sequence of the film, we are introduced to a family off 3. The father of the family is Gerard Butler's character Clyde Shelton and he and his daughter in the film are making a wrist band. Then the audience hear a diegetic sound of constant knocking on the door and Clyde's wife asks him to get that. As soon he opens the door we are put at a point of view shot and a bat is smacked on Clyde's face. The point of view shot is from the perspective of the robbers which makes this frame more intense as it seems as if we as the audience have hit Clyde with a baseball bat. The scene continues and Clyde and his wife get tied up. The robbers then make Clyde watch as they horrifically kill his wife and child and then leave him to lie there. The tying up I think is done by F. Gary Gray to emphasise the fact that Clyde has been left so helpless that all he can do is watch as the robbers kill his wife and child. This dramatic opening sequence could be used in our opening sequence for a crime film again.


Not only did I like the opening sequence of the film, but I also liked the remainder of the film. The part after the opening sequence is the court hearing of this case which involves Clyde. It is hear when we see a bad side to Clyde. We see that the robber doesn't get a sentence and he shakes hands with a lawyer who is played by Jamie Foxx who is called Nick Rice. After the hand shake, we are put in a point of view shot in the perspective of Nick Rice who sees Clyde in the background almost in tears. This is a very emotional part of the film as the audience will feel sorry for Clyde as he has been betrayed by a man who he just asked to help him. This is the turning point of the film and a transition is introduced here.


The transition fades to black and then it reappears 10 years later. This is the part of the film that I enjoy because from this point onwards Clyde has planned ways to kill everyone who has power over the law and who didn't help him in his case over the 10 year transition which we don't see. This film is thrilling and exciting and I would urge everyone to watch it.

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