Rotten Tomatoes Movie Variance: Law Abiding Citizen
In our Rotten Tomatoes Movie Variance section we talk about films that are both underrated and panned by critics, with the Rotten Tomatoes audience score telling the true story. I was pretty shocked to see such a wide variance on this one, I figured at a minimum it’d fall in the 50% range from critics. Law Abiding Citizen is way too good of a movie to get a mere 26% from critics. Once again though critics are wrong.
Law Abiding Citizen Summary
A family man watches his wife and daughter get murdered in a home invasion. The criminals are lightly punished and this sets Gerard Butler (a man with ‘a very particular set of skills’… Kinda like Taken/Rambo/John Wick/ Gladiator) on a rampage to destroy anyone involved, regardless of their perceived innocence.
There is something primal in all of us, that when we are wronged in anyway we wish we could go full revenge mode. I get this feeling even with the slightest inconvenience, someone cuts me off in traffic, I get a work email after 4pm, or someone beneath my status makes eye contact with me. This movie lives that out but to the highest level. Gerard Butler does basically what we all wish we could do and goes full Rambo/Taken/John Wick/Gladiator and tries to take down everyone. The difference with Law Abiding Citizen is that in most of these revenge movies, every single person is wholly bad or wholly good. You know exactly who to root for and who is the ‘bad guy’. Which turns the movie more into a super hero action flick. But I loved Law Abiding Citizen because there is ambiguity, you’re not exactly sure who you should be rooting for at times, but you also understand why each character is doing what they’re doing. There’s a ton of violence and the motivations and dialogue aren’t artistic, so those two things obviously make this a critics worst nightmare. But if you’re a normal person who wants a fast paced, hardcore thriller, then give this a try.
Rotten Tomatoes Best Reviews
I obviously knew what ‘nihilistic’ meant, I didn’t have to look it up. In laymen terms it mean: “rejecting all religious and moral principles in the belief that life is meaningless.” I never understood why movies all have to have some deeper message or impart some moral guidance. It’s like Josh and Simon walk into every movie expecting it to be a Tony Robbins motivational session and are shocked an dismayed anytime it diverts from that course. They’re the same people that can’t have fun playing GTA. Sometimes it’s fun to run over a pack of innocent bystanders on the sidewalk (in GTA). Can’t we just be challenged and entertained for 2 hours and then go back to our godless and meaningless lives?
The British and Australians really hated this movie it seems. Welcome to America Edward, we like our violence, sadism, and porn. USA! USA! Anyway this was more to talk about the director F. Gary Gray. He’s made a lot of great movies (Friday, Italian Job, Straight Outta Compton and of course Fate of the Furious aka Fast and Furious 8). But does anyone else read his name ‘Gary Gary’ or ‘Gray Gray’ each time they see it? Just me? At first I thought he had a name similar to Bol Bol or Ajou Ajou. But it turns out it’s just two names that are spelled very similar to each other and I have an apparent reading disorder. Also, his first name is Felix. Felix Gray is a badass name, why would he not want to go by that?
Jesus Christ. Sukhdev, it’s make believe. It’s a movie, it’s not real. I won’t lie, after seeing a movie I don’t particularly like, I get upset, peeved, and usually mutter some expletives or write a poorly written blog. But at the end of the day, I know movies are hard to make and most movies aren’t made for me. But Sukhdev is really about that life. The ‘consequences’ in Law Abiding Citizen are pretty much all around death and tortures… so pretty dark to say the people ACTING and making the movie should suffer the same fate. But honestly, I kinda respect this take. If you are a critic and it is your life’s work, you should basically be calling for death after a poorly made movie, so I can hate the game, but I won’t hate the playa.
I checked out his other reviews to see what I was working with. I was really hoping he’d wish death on the people of any movie he didn’t like, unfortunately it’s just a lot of big words and sentences I didn’t fully understand and this gem:
Nailed it. I couldn’t describe Finding Nemo better myself.
Law Abiding Citizen Best Scene
The face offs between Butler and Jamie Foxx are all great but I think this one is the most memorable especially for someone who is not particularly fond of how the justice system/politics currently operate:
Mood and Similar Movies to Law Abiding Citizen
It’s dark, it’s violent, it’s revenge oriented, maybe you have to be a little sick to like this movie? Guilty. But if you want a darker take on the movies mentioned above: Rambo, Taken, John Wick, Gladiator, and aren’t afraid to root for the bad guy and don’t need your movies to be perfectly moral, then I would definitely recommend this movie. It’s memorable, a good rewatch, and has great pacing/action.
Got other movies that would make for a good Rotten Tomatoes Movie Variance or have some input, well reach out!
