****SPOILERS****

Why would I want to see a movie where the morally bankrupt lawyer wins!? In a situation where the protagonists’ wife and 10-year old daughter are raped and murdered, the entire system deserves to be brought down. If I go to a movie where the system screws over the little guy and that little guy comes back to dish out real justice, I absolutely, positively DO NOT want to see the “system” win in the end, regardless of any Hollywood-ed glossed over change of heart the corrupt lawyer might happen to have. Just goes to show that even in making the movie about Selling out – the Director sells the audience out as well.

****SPOILERS****

1. The movie opens with a Nice Father enjoying his wife and child. There is a knock at the door, and The Father is knocked down and subdued by Two Bad Men. His wife is raped in front of him and his daughter is killed.

2. Jaime Foxx is the lawyer that makes a deal with the men who killed The Father’s family. Apparently, there are some Unspecified Technical Reasons that DNA evidence can’t be used against the two killers, and one of them gets a slap on the wrist and the other gets a death sentence.

3. 10 years later, the person who was to be executed is executed– but for some reason the execution is very painful. (We later find out that someone has tampered with the execution medicines.)

4. The man who got off with a lighter sentence is then set up to flee his house when police are coming to arrest him for some reason. He has a guardian angel that tells him where to go– but it turns out to be a setup.

5. Re-enter The Father, except that now he is The Assassin. So, he drugs the man (paralyzes) and takes him to a warehouse where he saws him into about 24 pieces, and castrates him afterward (making for 25 pieces, total).

6. The Assassin deliberately get himself arrested. From prison, he manages to kill quite a few people, including: The judge who gave the lenient sentences to one of the Bad Men, The DA who negotiated the deal. (It is at this point that we find out that he is a Highly Trained Assassin.) Eventually, the city is locked down.

7. The ultimate plan was to blow up city hall, but the Assistant DA finds out and moves the bomb back into his cell. The bomb blows up and kills the Highly Trained Assassin.

All in all:

This was an excellent film. To me, it would be worth seeing at a film (non-matinee price) or even buying off the New Release shelf. There was an excellent plot here, and that plot was enough to keep you interested but not slip into unbelievability. There was also lots of action, but that supplemented the plot (as opposed to films that are full of action in order to try to mask a weak plot). The film raised “thought questions” about the Justice System that also make for good discussion later on. There was also some very good, subtle casting. When the main character was The Father, he was believable in that role. But with a change of makeup and clothes, he also worked very well in the role of Highly Trained Assassin.

Laters

Charles Bronson is now called Gerald Butler. Starting position the same. Who would begrudge the man the revenge against the sadist rapist and killer and his side kick? Entirely legitimate emotions, especially after the prosecution makes a deal with the more evil guy and lets him get off with 5 years, plus death for the more harmless guy. Doesn’t this legal system stink? Ja, well. Who would deny that. And this is where the film derails.

10 years after the murder of his wife and child, Charles Gerald Bronson Butler resurfaces and goes several levels higher in his revenge needs than good old Bronson in the 70s ever dared to think.

Killing is not enough, we need extreme sadism and we need superman phantasies of the worst kind. Butler’s character develops traits of super evil cartoon baddies. The movie moves into terror propaganda feelings. We know that the man is evil, but we are made to sympathize with him. The defenders of the system are weaklings that we can’t like. After all it is their fault that the world is not a better place.

I would not hesitate to call this film propaganda for terrorism!

P.S. there is a new and altogether more charming addition to the genre in the new English film ‘Harry Brown’ with Michael Caine as a new version of the Charles Bronson character (in a combination with Clint Eastwood’s pensioner in Gran Torino). The film could carry the subtitle “The Pensioner Vigilante’. Harry is also not remotely a comedian, but he stays rather human compared with Butler’s monster. Oh, and if you in the US thought you have some social problems with some of your settlements and gangs, I recommend to watch Harry Brown to make you happy you don’t live in England.