This movie is all about Gerard Butler who really broke through with his kick-ass portrayal of King Leonidas in 300 and he does not disappoint here. But F. Gary Gray! What happened, my man? This movie carried all the way to the ten yard line and then fumbled. If you can live with only getting $4 worth of your $5, it’s worth watching for Butler’s performance, but Jamie Foxx wanders through the movie like a black Jack McCoy and by the third act this movie just feels like a really long episode of Law & Order. Gray and writer Kurt Wimmer flubbed the ending. Hint: here’s an ending that would have worked for this movie and given the studio a sequel. Wimmer’s only screenplay close to worthy of production was The Recruit, and Law Abiding feels like it was a one act idea pitched to the studio before the script was written. By the third act it feels like Wimmer, Foxx and Gray were all working on Law Abiding because they owed the IRS money – Alec Baldwin can tell you all about that.
What did we give it? 2 1/2 stars. If you have nothing to do on a Saturday night, it’s worth the $5 to watch Butler toy with Foxx, but don’t write to me about the ending, I already know it sucks.