Here’s something for the girls to end their week on. Who doesn’t want Gerard Butler chained up in your house — and by the neck, no less. When I look at it, I like to imagine he’s snarling “I am a slave! What possible difference can I make?” Considering the plot of Law Abiding Citizen is something akin to that of Gladiator (a vigilante who is holding all of Philadelphia hostage from his jail cell), I’m not entirely far off.
Despite my fondness for Bud White and Harry Callahan, I’m not entirely up on my prison and penal code … do they actually chain prisoners in old timey neck manacles like that in any American cities? That seems like something you’d see in Pirates of the Caribbean, not a serious, modern legal / vigilante thriller.
Pirate chains aside, it will be enjoyable to see Butler in something manly and gruff again. The film originally called for him to be the assistant D.A. and Jamie Foxx to play the vigilante bent on avenging his family, but they reversed roles just before filming began. I think that was a good choice for both actors … especially if they homage Escape From Alcatraz at all. And I think you know which scenes I mean, ladies.