Bad movie, but the premise had potential
-
Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Law Abiding Citizen
Matthew T. Dalldorf — 3 years ago(February 05, 2023 06:05 AM)
Ostensibly, this was supposed to be social-commentary and it could have been a great movie if it actually was. For example, Jamie Foxx keeps talking that everyone "needs to be held accountable", (he also says this at the very end just before he technically commits murder) they could have gotten more into the various corrupt things he does as a prosecutor that his powerful social standing allows him to not be held accountable for. Hell, at one point, Foxx's character actually says, "Fuck his civil rights" shortly after having placed his hand on the bible and sworn to uphold the constitution; this was a perfect example of the character's hypocrisy that they could have explored. There should also be some acknowledgement of the irony that a man who gets people on deathrow for a living is telling someone not to seek revenge and when he responds with the cliched "It's not revenge if I call it justice" line, the movie could use that as an opportunity to explore what exactly the difference is and if there even is any. They could have also said something about their motivations for taking lives and the way society tells us to view it – killing outside the law for personal vengeance is bad, but killing inside the law to make money and achieve power and fame is good.
Of course going though with these ideas would have run the risk of making the movie more intelligent and subversive. It may have even given it the potential to inspire critical thinking which I know the mainstream is deathly afraid of, but it would have been a stronger movie if they were willing to take that chance.