Usually films don't sneak up on me. I troll movie trailer sites daily looking for promising releases no matter how far away they may be. Law Abiding Citizen is one of the rare films that managed to escape my roving eye until a few weeks before release. The film showed a lot of promise with an intriguing premise and an impressive cast, and much to my delight it delivered on that promise.

Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler, The Ugly Truth) is a family man. He has a beautiful wife and daughter, and spends his time tinkering with small machines. His seemingly perfect life is turned upside down, however, when his family is attacked by two criminals. While one of the men is focused on possessions, the other has plans involving Clyde's wife and daughter. Clyde survives the encounter and hopes to see these men face justice. Unfortunately for Clyde, the prosecutor of his case, Nick Rice (Jamie Fox, The Soloist) is more interested in his track record and decides to make a deal that will send the burglar to death row and his wife's murderer to prison for 5 years. Needless to say, Clyde isn't too happy with this turn of events.

Ten years later, Clyde is picked up for the creative murders of the two men who broke into his house. Though these murders appear to be vengeance related, Clyde is far from finished with his great scheme. Even prison walls won't be able to keep him from accomplishing his goal. Prosecutor Rice and company are about to discover that Clyde Shelton is far from your average law abiding citizen.

The cast of Law Abiding Citizen is incredible. Gerard Butler is fantastic in this role. He makes his characters pain clear at all times while also maintaining an air of calm and confidence. Butler's previous roles don't really paint him as an actor who could play a "brain" but he really shows some versatility in this role. Jamie Fox shares the spotlight with Butler but doesn't really stand out as much. His emotional range is very narrow in this film, and though I get the feeling you are supposed to start rooting for him as the story progresses, he didn't manage to convince me to join his team. Not really a shining moment for Fox, but he gets the job done and complements Butler well.

Besides Butler's amazing performance, the other aspect of this movie that really stood out was the creativity and timing of each of his murders. Shelton is a very intelligent man, and that intelligence carries over into his plan to teach the justice system a lesson. I don't want to give away the big moments but I will say that every time the police think they are putting one over on Shelton, he manages to prove them wrong. I've mentioned in the past my love of films that make me think, and Law Abiding Citizen is one of those films. I may not be trying to discover the location of the next victim, but I am thinking of Butler’s mental process and intricate planning. It adds another level of enjoyment to the experience.

The one thing I didn't like about this film was the wrap up, and I'm not talking about the ending itself. The film ends logically (though I may have preferred a different outcome) but the events that lead up to that ending don't fit with the story as delivered. I was very disappointed to see how this all turned out considering how well the film captured my attention for 2 hours. I don't want to go into any more detail for fear of spoiling the movie, so you will just have to trust me on this one.

A disappointing ending usually ruins a movie for me. Luckily for this film, the excitement of the setup far surpassed the less than stellar finale. This film has a fair amount of blood in it, so if you are squeamish you may want to take that into account. Otherwise, I highly recommend taking the mental thrill ride that is Law Abiding Citizen.