Gerard Butler’s Forgotten 26% Rotten Tomatoes Revenge Thriller Gets New Streaming Home

Vigilante movies, especially those featuring characters who don’t wear capes and tights, aren’t as socially acceptable as they used to be. This is one of the many ways in which mainstream cinema has evolved over the years. There was a time, however, when Charles Bronson made a bunch of Death Wish films which were controversial even in the 1970s, as was Martin Scorsese‘s Taxi Driverwhich was misread by a section of the public. In 2009, the film Law Abiding Citizen updated the vigilante thriller format by masking it as a critique of the justice system. The movie was moderately successful upon release, but it wasn’t massive. If you haven’t seen it, you can check it out on Netflix this October.

Law Abiding Citizen features Gerard Butler as a man whose family is murdered before his eyes by a psychopath. The killer gets away after the prosecutor, played by Jamie Foxxgets him to strike a plea deal in exchange for a lesser sentence. Butler’s character takes matters into his own handsfeeling let down by the criminal justice system. Law Abiding Citizen earned poor reviewswith criticism being directed at its social commentary being muffled by brutal violence. The movie holds a 26% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “Unnecessarily violent and unflinchingly absurd, Law Abiding Citizen is plagued by subpar acting and a story that defies reason.”

Directed by F. Gary Graythe movie was moderately successful at the box office, grossing nearly $130 million worldwide against a reported budget of around $50 million. Butler was fresh off of his star-making turn in Zack Snyder‘s 300which made more than $450 million globally, while Foxx was an Academy Award winner. Gray was best known back then for having directed The Italian Job remake.

F. Gary Gray Went on to Direct Bigger Films

He’d go on to make the hit biopic Straight Outta Comptonand the billion-dollar-grossing blockbuster The Fate of the Furious. Gray also attempted to reboot the Men in Black franchise with Men in Black: Internationalbut had a notoriously difficult time on the film, and reportedly wanted to quit several times mid-production. His last movie was the Kevin Hart-led heist comedy Liftwhich debuted on Netflix in 2024. You can check it out as a detox after watching Law Abiding Citizen on the streamer beginning October. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.