FOLLOWING THE brutal rape and murder of his wife and daughter a man who is let down by the so-called justice system takes matters into his own hands by exacting lethal revenge on all who hurt or failed him.
Bloody, brilliantly clever, and full of suspense this is a real eye for an eye film that will have you hooked throughout.
The advertisement for this film did nothing to quell my scepticism, so sitting down in the packed auditorium I wasn’t really expecting much. However, my opinion soon did a u-turn following an opening sequence which got straight into the nitty gritty action that was promised and did not disappoint.
We see a loving family torn apart and destroyed by the violence that suddenly trespasses into their lives. On this night, two robbers invade Clyde Shelton’s (Gerard Butler) home and he is forced to watch helplessly as his wife and daughter are murdered. Shelton survives, but he is a shadow of his former self, with only the hope of justice to cling on to, however, these hopes are dashed when assistant DA Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) makes a deal with one of the killers to testify against his partner in return for a reduced sentence.
Rice, who is determined to maintain a high conviction rate, goes ahead with the deal rather than face the possibility of losing a trial despite pleas by Shelton not to let one the killers get off so lightly.
Ten years go by, one killer has been released from prison while the other faces the death penalty. The day of the execution arrives but there are forces at work which will see that nothing goes smoothly to plan and nobody is safe.
The investigation soon leads to the arrest of Shelton who admits everything but he has much more up his sleeve, and more vengence to exact, even behind bars, to fix what he perceives as a flawed justice system.
Not since 300 have I actually been able to stomach a performance by Butler; he has been doing far too many rom-coms for my liking. Action and suspence films is what Butler is good at and this film really shows off his talents. I’m surprised to say that I loved this film because of its non-stop action, twists and turns, and shock thrown in at all the right moments.
Verdict: 4.5/5