MOVIE CRITIQUE

The move I chose was "Law Abiding Citizen." The Genre action/fiction directed by Gary Gray and written by Kurt Wimmer. The main characters were played by Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx.

I really liked this movie and I would definately reccommend it to anyone who likes movies that involve action, crime, and criminal justice.

The setting takes place in Philidelphia. A man's wife and daughter were brutally murdered by a man who ended up being found guilty based on just a slight error during trial. It was obvious the man was the murderer based on proof beyong resonable doubt. So the murderer gets released from prison and the victim's Husband/Father gets very angry. He sets out to get revenge against anyone and everyone involved in trial. First he murders the man who killed his family, next was the Public Defender, Judge, and a few others and he manages to kill them right from his jail cell. Every step he took was planned out including going to prison. it was all a plan to get revenge.

The movie interested me because it shows how the criminal justice system really works. It's all about what you can and cannot prove, not the actual truth, and if the slightest technical error occurs the case can be dropped. It also deals with ethics and morals. It makes you think about how unethical the criminal justice system can be.

One of the quotes that stood out to me was by Jamie Foxx he says "He's in jail, it's because he wants to be in jail. He's a born tactician. Every move that he makes, it means something." This quote alone gave the veiwers a totally different view and a clue about the movie.

Another quote that stood out was one by the judge. "Well, that's one of the benefits of being a judge, Mr. Rice. I can... pretty much do whatever I want." This quote shows how powerful judges are, they can make pretty much any kind of decision they want, whether it's right or wrong, harsh or leinent...

The main theme of the movie from my perspective was whether protecting people's rights was more important than the truth. In the criminal justice system it's all about what you can and cannot prove, and whether any evidence was presented and obtained legally, NOT  based on the truth.