BEFORE: Sticking with the crime theme, which should see me through the weekend and right up to the next celebrity birthday. Linking from "Carlito's Way", Al Pacino was in "Frankie and Johnny" with Hector Elizondo, who was in "Valentine's Day" with Jamie Foxx.
THE PLOT: A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free.
AFTER: There's some really interesting stuff here - after the most brutal opening scenes (possibly ever), the film cross-cuts between a prison execution and a child's cello recital. This is done much more brilliantly than you might think, which made me sit up and take notice of the skill involved.
Like "Cool Hand Luke", this is a film about a man screwing with the prison warden and the justice system, but Luke had no particular plan, and this time, it's all about the plan. The wronged man 10 years to concoct the most elaborate revenge scheme I've seen on film, more elaborate than the ones in films like "FX" and even "The Shawshank Redemption".
You feel for the man who had his family torn away from him, but the question becomes, to what extent do you root for him? Whereas most people would go through the typical five stages of grief, this character's stages involve things like buying a bunch of soundproof abandoned warehouses, and acquainting himself with CIA killing techniques. Fans of films like "Saw" and "Hostel" might find some stuff here that they enjoy, but I'm not one of those people.
If a character is willing to put his freedom, and his life, on the line, you might realize how far he's willing to go to make a point. But when the bodies start piling up, you might wonder just how far a revenge scheme should go. Do his convictions make him more right, or less right? As the film progresses, there's no question that this guy has gone off the rails - but exactly WHEN he goes too far is perhaps left up to the individual viewer.
This guy not only worked out the revenge plot, he also took into account the follow-up, and the legality of the aftermath. I'd wager most people couldn't see that far ahead, and that strains the boundaries of credulity. Plus, at some point it seems like he's just digging his hole deeper and deeper, to the point where he manages to cripple an entire city (Philadelphia) with his particular form of domestic terrorism (let's call it what it is).
How very ironic, that last night NYC reacted to a vague security threat and decided to ramp up random bag checks and put extra patrols on the bridges and tunnels. Personal note to Mayor Bloomberg - you just asked me to remain vigilant, but also to go about my normal routine. Well, which is it? Because my normal routine is to put my headphones on and ignore everything between my front door and the office.
Furthermore, how do you outsmart a criminal mastermind (or terrorists) when all you can do is play catch-up? We're still taking our shoes off at the airport, and there hasn't been a shoe bomber in years. Remember, after the shoe bomber, the next guy to attack a plane had explosives in his underwear. The tactics are constantly changing, and they're not going to try the same thing twice in a row (or...are they?). You've got to try and think THREE moves ahead if you're going to take somebody down - are we doing that?
This was an extremely clever film - almost, but not quite, obnoxiously so. It surprised me and gave me more than I expected, and that hasn't happened in months.
Also starring Gerard Butler (last heard in "How to Train Your Dragon"), Colm Meaney (last seen in "Far and Away"), Regina Hall (last seen in "Superhero Movie"), Leslie Bibb (last seen in "Iron Man"), Bruce McGill (last seen in "Silkwood"), with cameos from Viola Davis (last seen in "Knight and Day"), Michael Kelly (last seen in "Changeling"), Roger Bart (last seen in "American Gangster").
RATING: 7 out of 10 squad cars (less 1 for the torture-porn, but plus 1 for using a kick-ass song from Grand Funk Railroad over the closing credits)
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