If a thousand BostonHerald.com commenters chained to a thousand typewriters produced a movie script, it would probably read an awful lot like F. Gary Gray’s vigilante-revenge thriller.
Gyro gearloose Clyde (Gerard Butler) is forced to watch as his wife and daughter are slain during a robbery, and when a “broken” legal system lets the actual killer get off with a slap on the wrist, he dedicates his life to bringing the whole “diseased corrupt temple down” on the heads of the criminals, the government, and the lawyer (Jamie Foxx) who wronged him, as he sets a series of deadly, diabolical traps.
If you can avoid breathing in the stench of its synthetic pseudo-morals (e.g., the “Fuck his civil rights” scene), this film’s a treat: cinematic headcheese assembled from umami-laden scraps of Se7en, Saw, The Dark Knight, and The Silence of the Lambs, with fun twists and superb explosions. Just don’t dwell on what it’s made of.
