Why the ending was disappointing
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Law Abiding Citizen
mauness — 14 years ago(March 26, 2012 04:29 AM)
I think it was interesting how Clyde became what he hated in the end. At first, you agreed with him - the revenge on the two attackers and when he chastised the judge in court, but then it just escalated into a downward spiral. I feel that the ending was disappointing was that Jamie Foxx's character didn't seem to change and that he actually seemed rather smug by the end? I'm not saying that his family should have died or horrible revenge should be inflicted by him, I just think that I really didn't like his character by the end.
Let me know your thoughts, as I am still trying to pinpoint why I just didn't seem to like the end? -
villin-196-169177 — 14 years ago(April 01, 2012 12:22 AM)
I think you, like many others, completely missed the entire reasoning behind Clyde's actions. It had nothing to do with revenge. He even spelled it out clearly at one point that if it was simply a matter of revenge he could have slaughtered everyone involved. Instead he waited ten years while he plotted and planned out how to best achieve his true goal which was to expose the faults in the justice system itself.
Don't get me wrong, i'm sure he took some personal satisfaction in killing his wife and daughter's murderers but he could have done that at any time from the shadows and nobody would have been the wiser.
It was like he said, he went to war with the legal system itself and by doing so in the manner that he did, he exposed to the public how impotent and ineffective the system truely was. He was killing people with impunity even after being locked away showing that the justice system was weak. It even went so far that the mayor had to put the city on lockdown just to reassure the citizens that the powers that be still had control. Clyde wasn't out for revenge, he was out to effect real change in what he viewed as a corrupt and ineffective judicial system. -
Tsavo — 13 years ago(May 31, 2012 09:24 PM)
There where a few flaws with the end, the bomb being too obvious in an otherwise empty room, etc. etc. In the end though, I was rooting for Clyde by the end of the film, and after the obvious corruption (I.E. "I don't care what laws you have to bend" amongst other things) I honestly thought the movie should have ended with city hall going up. I know people disagree with me on this matter, but still, the movie would have been amazing.
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nauruzu — 13 years ago(June 07, 2012 01:14 AM)
Exactly!!! I was also thinking how come he didn't find out that his building had been searched out. Plus, after seeing Rice in his cell waiting for him, such a great tactician should have questioned himself on certain points, including the bomb he left out there!!!
You have to do the best with what God gave you.
Forrest Gump -
meester_lowe — 13 years ago(June 16, 2012 03:55 PM)
Considering he had been so thorough with everything else, I found it hard to believe that the briefcase bomb didn't have any booby traps to prevent it from being moved after being placed at City Hall. Even another cleaner could have moved it.
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iroquoisjoe — 13 years ago(June 19, 2012 09:55 AM)
I tend to enjoy Law Abiding Citizen as an absurd but awesome thrillerthat is to say it is film where you are better to turn your brain off and just enjoy the show. If you think about the plausibilities or legalities you tend to be wasting your time. This movie is not made for that. There are plenty of documentaries about real law and real crime. If you mistake this for reality, wellyou get what you deserve on that.
However, the one thing I enjoy is the fact that it does pull the rug out from under you on a morality leveland it takes a bit of post-movie thinking to even realize that this has happened.
for example: It is SIMPLE to enjoy and support a father avenging his family after you watch the events unfold on screen. It is easy to go along and become engrossed as his plan continues. But, if you continue in this vein, you will even support him killing innocent people too. You will continue to actually ENJOY the killing if you never stop to think about it. You will justify it in your mind. In fact you will say this to yourself, "the guy must be justified. After all, his family was killed. I mean they wouldn't make him the bad guy after making him the good guy at first would they? That's too confusing. That means that there is something more complex and that things aren't that simple. Arghhh!" If you can not wrap your head around complexities or gray areas in lifeor worse, can not just let a movie be a movie, not a metaphor for real life, then yeah, you are not going to enjoy the show.
Me? I love watching itespecially the end. It's just a movie. Awesome, but absurd. -
gregpage — 13 years ago(October 22, 2012 03:24 AM)
I loved this movie up until the end. Nick Rice, the person responsible for everything that happens in the movie after the Shelton's family is murdered, escapes with himself and his family intact. Everyone around Rice dies a horrible death but not so much as a hair out of place for Rice's wife and kid. For this movie to have an effective ending, they needed to die and certainly Rice had to die. I'm not sure if Foxx has something in his contract that says he needs a happy ending for himself or not, but the ending was a dud.
The ending knocked this film down to a 6/10, where it should have been at least a 8.5/10.
How Rice got the bomb back to the jail before Shelton got back is something of a time-warp mistery to me. -
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tails292003 — 11 years ago(May 11, 2014 08:30 PM)
i totally loved the movie,i hated the arrogant lawyer.the movie should have ended by this prick lawyer experience the same thing with his daughter.and then killed in a long painful way.that would have been the only ending i would have liked.
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Arisuta — 11 years ago(October 05, 2014 01:03 AM)
Totally agree. For a master of the Art of War like Gerard Butler's character to leave anything to chance without contingencies in place smacks of hubris that he seemed not to have. His building would have been well disguised for what it was and there would have been some sort of device to let him know if it had been entered. A simple burglar alarm would have sufficed for goodness sake.
"Which it will be ready when it's READY!" Preserved Killick, Master and Commander. -
JurijFedorov — 13 years ago(January 05, 2013 12:41 PM)
But Shelton did achieve his goal. Rice told him in the end that he does not negotiate with murderers anymore. Shelton did place him in a higher position. So he has a man thinking like him having control over the legal system in the city - plan complete. And Rice did become a better human being, and he even appreciated his family more when it was all over. Remember, it was never Sheltons plan to kill Rice - he just wanted to teach him a lesson.
Even the mayor said that they had to do what needed to be done - no matter the small and counterintuitive rules. Exactly the opposite of what the judge and Rice said in the beginning of the movie at the murder-trial. And the mayor and Rice didn't care about their positions anymore they just wanted to do the right thing and fight the crime, that's why Rice was promoted instead of being fired and that's why he killed Shelton.
GREAT MOVIE, I think 8,5 is well deserved. (please adjust your rating)
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ChefC — 12 years ago(June 10, 2013 02:49 AM)
I agree Rice shouldn't have escaped unharmed.
Although I think they attempted to explain how he got back faster by implying Shelton had spent some time waiting out traffic/random searches inside a car park.
He encounters a road block and enters a car park to avoid it. Then you see him exiting the car park and there is no longer traffic.Gone too soon:
Firefly|New Amsterdam|Journeyman|Life|terriers|SGU|Prime Suspect -
casinada27 — 12 years ago(July 30, 2013 11:08 PM)
And that's exactly why it seems so dissapointing! J.F.'s character never seemed to assume resposibility, never acknowledged that the system was wrong or broken, never learned the lesson Clyde was trying to teach. Wich kinda sucks.