Law Abiding CitizenMovie Reviews

Poster art for "Law Abiding Citizen."

Gifts + Promos

Fandango Gift Card

Give the gift of movies with Fandango Bucks Gift Certificates! Design your own gift card, or choose from our collection.

Rock of Ages GWP

Buy Rock of Ages tickets to any Regal Theater Showing & receive a FREE song download!

Madagascar 3 Sweeps

Enter for a chance to win a wild family getaway to San Diego!

Need Help?
No
Avg. Critic Score: 34 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
17 not for kids
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 75
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    One of those movies you like more at the time than in retrospect. Read full review

  • 70
    The Hollywood Reporter | Kirk Honeycutt

    The script does create sufficient tension and intrigue to hook viewers along with a photogenic, hardworking cast. Read full review

  • 60
    Variety | Justin Chang

    True torture-porn aficionados will be disappointed, as editor Tariq Anwar cuts away right before blade meets flesh -- a move that feels a tad, well, gutless under the circumstances. But elsewhere, "Citizen" proves startlingly graphic, even by R-rated standards. Read full review

  • 50
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    Deep within Law Abiding Citizen lurks a thought-provoking movie. But most of what we see on the screen is implausible, superficial and only marginally involving. Read full review

  • 42
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Clyde is meant to be nuts, but too often it's Law Abiding Citizen that checks rationality at the door. Read full review

  • 40
    Los Angeles Times |

    The film's greatest sin isn't its cynical moral posturing but its complete failure to engage audiences on even a visceral level. Read full review

  • 38
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Jeez, did the "surprise" climax have to be this eye-rollingly stupid? Read full review

  • 30
    Washington Post |

    A movie devoted to baroque revenge would be, on its own terms, acceptable; what makes Law Abiding Citizen so risible is its humorless conviction that it's got Big Ideas at its core. Read full review

  • 30
    The New York Times | A.O. Scott

    Wears its preposterousness with a certain pride. It's about the cat-and-mouse game between two very smart guys, and it's perfectly happy to be as dumb as it wants. Read full review

  • 25
    San Francisco Chronicle |

    Vigilante movies hold a firm place in cinematic history, but for them to work, the vigilante needs to be a sympathetic anti-hero. Read full review

View more reviews for Law Abiding Citizen on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says not for kids Violent vengeance thriller has lots of bloody brutality.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that Law Abiding Citizen contains several scenes of extremely bloody violence -- in addition to the home invasion/robbery/attempted rape/murder sequence that it begins with, there's a brutal stabbing and a horrifying torture scene in which a chemically paralyzed man is strapped to a gurney and has his limbs and organs sliced off. Viewers don't see the actual slicing, but they do see the man's limbless, mutilated corpse, and some of the crueler acts are discussed at length. The matter-of-fact nature of the brutal scenes is particularly disquieting. There's also plenty of strong language, some sexual content (including partial nudity), drinking, and drug use.
  • Families can talk about the movie's violence. How does the impact of the violence here compare to that of "torture porn" horror movies like Saw? Which is more upsetting, and why?
  • Where's the line between vigilante justice and cold-blooded murder? Are we supposed to admire Clyde when he kills criminals, but not when he kills people at the district attorney's office?
  • What's the difference between "justice" and "law"? Do plea bargains and other deals keep the mechanism of justice tunning smoothly or divert it from its true intent?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: The plot's more philosophical points about the problems of the legal system are drowned out by its murders and gory violence.
  • rolemodels true0 Positive role models: Clyde is a grief-stricken man on a brutal terrorist campaign of revenge; Nick is a career lawyer who, at first is more interested in his conviction rate than in fighting to uphold the letter of the law.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: Scenes of torture; also scenes in which a young child watches the torture on DVD. An attempted rape, which is called off in order to commit murder. A lethal injection is deliberately engineered to cause agony. Scenes of stabbing, shooting, beatings, and bombs going off -- both large incendiary devices and small, hand-held deathtraps. In one bloody, brutal, and shocking scene, a man is stabbed with a sharp object repeatedly in the jugular, with copious amounts of blood. Scenes of bloody corpses as well as people paralyzed by shellfish venom.
  • sex false3 Sex: Nude male and female buttocks. Discussions of sex acts in vulgar language.
  • language false4 Language: Frequent strong language, including "f--k," "motherf--ker," "balls," "prick," "ass," "piss," "s--t," "bitch," "a--hole," "damn," "hell," "Jesus Christ," and more.
  • consumerism false1 Consumerism: Very few brands are shown/talked about, but Pepsi products are seen, and iPod is mentioned by name.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Cocaine use is shown; characters drink beer, wine, and liquor.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

2.5

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

"Saw"-abiding citizen. Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

Read more movie reviews at Movies.com

Law Abiding Citizen Movie Ratings + Reviews

Fans say

Go 1,590 fan reviews

Critics say

No See all critic reviews

Law Abiding Citizen Featured Trailers + Video Clips

Watch All Videos

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook