Law Abiding Citizen is a 2009 American vigilante action thriller film directed by F. Gary Gray, written by Kurt Wimmer, and starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler (who also co-produced). The film takes place in Philadelphia, telling the story of a man driven to seek justice while targeting not only his family's killer but also those who have supported a corrupt criminal justice system, intending to assassinate anyone supporting the system. Law Abiding Citizen was filmed on location in Philadelphia, and released theatrically by Overture Films in North America on October 16, 2009.
The film grossed $127.9 million worldwide but received generally negative reviews from critics. Despite this, it was nominated for a Saturn Award as the Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film of the year, as well as NAACP Image Award nominations for both Foxx (Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture) and Gray (Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture).
Plot
In a Philadelphia home invasion, Clarence Darby murders the wife and daughter of engineer Clyde Shelton, who is forced to watch. Prosecuting attorney Nick Rice is unable to securely convict Darby due to mishandled evidence. Unwilling to risk lowering his high conviction rate, he makes a deal with Darby; in exchange for testifying against his accomplice, Rupert Ames (who only intended to steal from Clyde and flee), Darby will plead guilty to third degree murder and receive a lighter sentence. Ames is convicted and sentenced to death, while Darby is released after a few years. Clyde feels betrayed by Nick and the justice system.
Ten years later, Ames is executed via lethal injection, but some of the execution chemicals had been switched and Ames dies in agonizing pain; evidence implicates Darby, who is alerted to by an anonymous caller of law enforcement coming to arrest him. The caller, using an electronically distorted voice and knowledge of cocaine and a possibly underaged woman in his apartment, warns Darby that he's looking at life in prison. Darby hijacks a police car, forcing a lone officer to drive to a deserted warehouse. The officer reveals that he is Clyde, and was also the caller. Darby attempts to shoot Clyde, instead, the gun paralyzes Darby with tetrodotoxin-coated spikes; Clyde straps Darby to a table, makes medical preparations to prolong Darby's suffering, and then video-records himself slowly dismembering Darby before eventually decapitating him. When Darby's remains are found, evidence ties his death to Clyde; Clyde willingly surrenders and goes to prison.
In prison, Clyde demands a new mattress in his cell in exchange for a "confession." Nick initially refuses, but after learning that Clyde traumatized Nick's family with the video of Darby's murder, District Attorney Jonas Cantrell orders Nick to make the deal. In court, Clyde represents himself and successfully argues he should be granted bail, but is immediately denied and jailed for contempt of court after berating the judge for accepting the legal precedent he cited, believing her too easily convinced and eager to let madmen and murderers back on the street.
After giving Nick his confession, Clyde demands an elaborate steak lunch and a music player be delivered to his cell by a specific time, in exchange for the location of Bill Reynolds, Darby's lawyer, who was reported missing. Nick agrees, though the lunch is delayed a few minutes courtesy of the warden's security measures. Once he has his meal, Clyde provides the coordinates leading to the location of the lawyer. Nick is too late to save Darby's lawyer as he suffocated inside a box due to time-mechanized materials, and immediately realized the timing it took to get from the prison to the burial site. After sharing his meal with a cellmate, Clyde proceeds to kill him with his steak bone, forcing the warden to secure him in solitary confinement.
Cantrell and Nick meet Bray, Clyde's former's CIA contact, learning Clyde previously worked with the agency, creating imaginative assassination devices and orchestrating intricate lethal tactics against nearly impossible targets. They are warned Clyde can kill anyone anytime he wishes and that if he is in jail, it is all part of a bigger plan. Bray then suggests to Nick and Cantrell that their best option was to kill Clyde. During a meeting with Nick and Cantrell, the judge is killed by an explosive hidden in her cell phone. Clyde explains to Nick that the murders are not about revenge, but the failures of the justice system. He then demands to be released and all charges against him dropped or he will "kill everyone".