I thought I would be the first one to review this movie, but unfortunately I was wrong. I say unfortunately, because the review of my predecessor was short, and might have put you off watching, what to me is a great movie.
Gerard Butler stars as Clyde Shelton an engineer designing weapons for the government, whose wife and daughter were brutally murdered. He saw it all happen, and was unable to help them. Then after a year struggle in court the real murderer walks because of a deal with Butler’s attorney (Jamie Foxx) that puts his accomplice in prison. After that everyone forgets the whole thing, everyone except Shelton. Ten years pass and suddenly the real murderer is found dead, cut into pieces. Obviously Shelton is the prime suspect, and so is taken into custody. After some smart backtalk and a few odd requests from Butler, he admits to the killing. But he also promises Foxx, that all the people who let the bad guy go free (and that’s everyone from the judge to the people working for Foxx) will die unless he lets him go. And this is where all the fun begins. I don’t want to give anything away, so I will not describe it, but believe me when I say that the screen writers didn’t make Butler a weapon engineer without a reason.
The movie might have a few gruesome moments, but I think they were necessary to create all the emotions the characters are feeling, besides come on, this is no movie for kids. If you’re sensitive to blood go and watch 12A rated movie.
Also I like the idea of not having a good or bad side here. It’s more about who is more right, the grief stricken husband and father, or the US law represented here by the district attorney. Because like Foxx says to Butler off the record, he praises him for killing the bad guy, but he still has to put him in prison, because that’s how it works.
For the fans of action this is the movie to go for. It has everything from suspense to surprising ending, and good dialogue in between. The chemistry between the main characters is superb, and the fast paced action is twisted around Foxx and his colleagues rethinking and judging their own decisions, that don’t look as the right ones anymore.
Butler’s character is very good because it combines the strong, violent characteristics that all of us have, but that only surface when they’re forced out of us, with the caring man who holds on to the remnants of his happy life that is already long gone. This is about a man that has nothing to lose, not anymore.
Then we have Foxx’s character, who has a loving wife and a child, and a job he takes as seriously as it gets. In some ways he is a mirror image of Shelton, of him as he was before his family gets murdered. They are alike in many ways, but Foxx just lives by an advice he was once given “once you make a decision, live with it”. He thinks he stands for justice, and refuses to look any other way.
This movie is more than just a thriller, it shows the ridiculousness of the US law, and that there are perfect crimes, at least in the metaphorical sense. Anyway, I definitely would recommend this movie to anyone who can appreciate not only the images that are seen, but everything else that makes a good movie.
