Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

Gerard Butler spends most of Law Abiding Citizen locked in a cell, and the people on his list keep falling anyway. That’s the trick the whole movie hangs on, and the longer it runs, the more it feels like a magic act with the wires showing. It opens on a real question about plea deals, and for a stretch it’s legit gripping. Then the logic goes out the window and the explosions take over. Butler is enjoying himself enormously, bargaining with prosecutors for a comfy bed in his cell like a hotel guest with complaints. Jamie Foxx gets stuck as the guy insisting the system works while the system gets flattened around him. Rotten Tomatoes critics landed at 26%, while 350,446 IMDb voters average a 7.4, so the crowd clearly had more fun than the reviewers. A 4.6 because it asks a real question and answers it with a gadget. $459 says you bring up plea deals at your next family dinner, and nobody else at the table wants to talk about plea deals.

What works: The opening question about plea deals is genuinely sharp, and Gerard Butler clearly enjoys every smug scene.

What doesn’t: The plot turns into an impossible puzzle box, and the ending backs away from the moral question the movie raised.

Who it’s for: People who like revenge thrillers loud and twisty, and anyone who enjoys a heated debate about the justice system afterward.