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Law Abiding Citizen poster

Law Abiding Citizen

109 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Jamie Foxx Nick Rice
Gerard Butler Clyde Shelton
Colm Meaney Detective Dunnigan
Bruce McGill Jonas Cantrell
Leslie Bibb Sarah Lowell
Michael Irby Detective Garza
Gregory Itzin Warden Iger
Regina Hall Kelly Rice
Emerald-Angel Young Denise Rice
Christian Stolte Clarence Darby
Annie Corley Judge Laura Burch
Richard Portnow Bill Reynolds
Viola Davis Mayor April Henry
Josh Stewart Rupert Ames

Law Abiding Citizen | The Rewatchables

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Producer credits not yet identified.

Most Rewatchable Scene

The cell phone killing the judge; Nick and Clyde's first interrogation; the cellmate killing; the parking-lot bombing

In the discussion (15)
Approx. transcript time · 00:28:14Read transcript
  • The opening home invasion is excluded from the rewatchable scenes.
  • Nick meeting Clyde to explain the plea deal (DNA ruled inadmissible despite a witness) is called one of the most detestable scenes in a beloved movie; afterward you want Clyde to kill everyone involved.
  • The lethal injection gone wrong is picked; it prompts curiosity about who attends executions, and Nick brings Leslie Bibb's character and skips his daughter's recital to watch.
  • A favorite trope: something traumatic has to happen for a man to become a real father.
  • Darby's abduction is 'perfectly executed', with his companion slumped on the ground; the barbed-gun reveal is when 'the movie has started'; the tetrodotoxin detail was looked up and is said to be real.
  • Clyde pretends to confess to Nick without confessing; a smarter, Fincher-style movie would reveal that an hour later instead of immediately.
  • The judge scene delivers the title line, 'Your honor, I'm a law-abiding citizen', followed by insults to the judge that are called hysterical.
  • In the jail cell Clyde orders a Del Frisco's steak and kills his cellmate with the bone, not the spork, as one speaker had believed after nine viewings, while 'Eminence Front' plays.
  • The cellmate killing was the most confusing moment on first viewing until the tunnels are revealed; a flashback to ten years of preparation would have been welcome.
  • The cell phone that blows up the judge is an all-timer and one speaker's favorite scene: out of nowhere, right after she says a judge can do what she wants, with horror-movie shock.
  • The parking-lot bombing kills Leslie Bibb's character; the hosts ask why Nick had everyone wait in the office at 6 a.m. and why the DA works the case like a detective.
  • The funeral drone gun, where Jonas is shot and then finished with a rocket, and the first 80 minutes are called elite.
  • The tunnel reveal and the final 'I don't make deals with murderers' confrontation end with operatic fire around Clyde as he looks at his daughter's bracelet.
  • One pick: 'my most rewatchable is the cell phone easily', plus Nick and Clyde's first interrogation; the eyelid-torture scene with the mirror is an honorable mention.
  • Another pick lists the cellmate, the cell phone and the parking lot, calling the whole stretch fantastic.

The most "year the movie came out" thing

The iPod scene; no social media outrage over the plea bargain

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:41:39Read transcript
  • The crucial iPod scene, with a big iPod plugged into speakers near the end of the iPod era, is the most 2009 thing.
  • There was no social media to be outraged by the plea bargain; true crime would have changed the movie, with Clyde becoming a hero with his own faction online.
  • A comparison is drawn to public support for the man who killed the United CEO.
  • Fake true-crime documentaries about fictional characters (Clyde, John Doe from Seven, the Corleone victims) are pitched as a Ringer Movies idea; a fake 30 for 30 about Drago is said not to have worked.

What’s Aged the Best?

The Butler-Foxx role flip; Butler's naked arrest; Philadelphia as a location; Regina Hall; another character explaining the hero's special skills

In the discussion (6)
Approx. transcript time · 00:45:49Read transcript
  • The hosts say Foxx was first set to play Clyde and Butler the lawyer until Butler pushed to flip; they quote Butler saying he was seduced by the other role and asked if Jamie would take the lawyer.
  • The flip is judged right: Butler as the lawyer would be a worse movie, while it is a better role for Foxx.
  • Butler's naked arrest adds him to the white leading men who show their butts on camera (Kevin Costner in Robin Hood, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise); the hosts joke that hairy actors' butts are always waxed.
  • Philadelphia is an underrated, confined movie location; the Rocky statue or the Liberty Bell should have been threatened.
  • Regina Hall brings gravitas to a role of a few scenes, which is three scenes too short.
  • Another character explaining the hero's special set of skills is a favorite device; here it comes from 'the House of Cards guy' in a tunnel.
In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:52:55Read transcript
  • One speaker could not come up with a title.
  • 'Shut the Hell Up, Nick': whenever Nick speaks, the opposite happens terribly, as in the parking lot.
  • Nick refuses Clyde's offer to confess in exchange for a mattress, to his team's disbelief.

The Butch’s Girlfriend Award for the Weakest Link in the Film

Clyde's needlessly elaborate ten-year plan; Clyde moving freely in and out of isolation

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:58:02Read transcript
  • Clyde could have just killed Darby, the judge and everyone else instead of spending ten years digging tunnels.
  • A defense: killing anonymously would not make a public point against the justice system.
  • Waiting years let Darby keep living; the distinction between justice and revenge (Batman Begins) explains Clyde's scattershot method.
  • The other weak link is Clyde moving in and out of an elaborate, manicured isolation cell unnoticed, while also working a janitorial job under the name Nomos.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Missing Philly accents; no Philly sports references; Viola Davis wasted as the mayor; Nick

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:51Read transcript
  • The Philly accents are nonexistent; nobody tried.
  • There are no Philly sports references even though the Phillies were, a speaker thinks, in the 2009 World Series; a villain could have mentioned a Phillies game or Chase Utley.
  • Viola Davis is wasted as the mayor in about three scenes, used as a legitimizer, as in one scene in Out of Sight.
  • Nick: 'every time I watch it... Nick sucks'.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Sarah deserved to die; Gerard Butler should have been James Bond instead of Daniel Craig

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:06:33Read transcript
  • One participant did not prepare a take because he did not know he would be in that chair.
  • Take: Sarah deserved to die; the hosts joke she was headed for a relationship with Nick.
  • Hottest take: Gerard Butler should have been James Bond instead of Daniel Craig 20 years ago, at a similar career point, in Casino Royale or Skyfall.
  • The take is called entertaining 'total bullshit' and a 'dazzling putrid take' given Craig's success; without Bond, Butler might not have made Den of Thieves, and Daniel Craig could have been in this film.
  • Objections: Butler's brand is brutality while Bond needs suaveness, and his Scottish delivery; he does fit the Sean Connery man's-man Bond, but the objector concludes it is terrible.
In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:41Read transcript
  • Colm Meaney is offered: the sidekick who survives along with Foxx, known from Star Trek and Mystery, Alaska; Bruce McGill 'is Bruce McGill'.
  • The warden was played by President Logan from 24; the speaker looked up the name, Gregory Itzin, and says he wins.
  • Michael Kelly, as Clyde's former co-worker, is also offered, but is said to have ascended past That Guy status with Landman and Lioness.

Apex Mountain

Del Frisco's Steakhouse: this movie; Philadelphia law movies: Philadelphia; vigilante movies: Death Wish; Leslie Bibb: Talladega Nights

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:16:26Read transcript
  • Earlier aside: the film 'really might be Apex Mountain' for the long con, with ten years of planning; this is hedged.
  • Butler's apex is placed in the mid-2000s coming out of 300, and Foxx's after Ray and Collateral.
  • Leslie Bibb's apex is Talladega Nights, with White Lotus mentioned.
  • For Philadelphia law movies Philadelphia still holds it; for vigilante movies it is Death Wish; for 'Eminence Front' it is probably still the first episode of Entourage.
  • Del Frisco's Steakhouse: 'definitely'.
In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:17:51Read transcript
  • Hanks goes in the Philadelphia shadow sequel with Denzel as Nick, and Cruise would be a phenomenal Clyde, a dark role he should have done more after Collateral.
  • Cruise would have crushed the hyper-fixated Clyde and learned tunneling and bomb-making; running would have been added in the parking garage.
  • A speaker says Craig thought Cruise would make a good Rewatchables guest and they argued; the other thinks Cruise would not answer a single category and dares him to come on.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Sequel in which Nick faces Clyde's booby traps

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:26:32Read transcript
  • The hosts say a sequel was announced in May 2022 with Kurt Wimmer returning, Butler producing and producer Lucas Foster calling the premise more relevant than ever, but three years later it was said not to be happening.
  • Sequel idea: Nick finds Clyde set booby traps in case he died, and Billy Bob Thornton plays a former associate who must get into Clyde's head.
  • The traps could include the basketball bomb or a bomb in the cello.

Is This Movie Better With…?

No affirmative selection

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:28:51Read transcript
  • Football commentary from Collinsworth or Troy Aikman is imagined, calling Clyde like Josh Allen running the offense and calling audibles.

Just One Oscar

No affirmative selection

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:29:19Read transcript
  • 'Probably Butler, right?' is met with 'yeah, I guess'; both are hedged.
  • The hosts imagine Butler's nomination clip showing his box-cutter threat.