I watched this last night. I didn’t like it very much.
It started with your typical: Perfect, loving family; wife and child slaughtered in violent and random break in as father lies bound/gagged/helpless. You’ve seen it in like half a dozen other movies, whatever.
That’s fine and to be expected, no big deal. Then the legal system lets dude down, and so we go off on our wild revenge fantasy thing. There are explosions and death and general mayhem, things are alright. It’s completely unbelievable, but fun, and people/things are blowing up. You can’t really complain.
The problem (for me) is basically that, for the first two-thirds of the movie I felt like I was supposed to be cheering for Butler and not liking Foxx very much (both of which were true), and then suddenly at the end of the movie you’re supposed to switch gears and hate Butler and hope Foxx wins (neither of which happened for me).
At the start of the movie, Foxx is a dick. I don’t want to spoil anything, but the whole idea is that the Justice System Doesn’t Work So Hot, and Butler is killing people who game it and use it for themselves. (Foxx, for example, who seems to want a high score in Prosecutorism, and would rather cut deals than maybe lose a case.) So, you’re along for the ride and things are going fine…and then at the very end…Butler is still doing the same stuff and is now the bad guy, and Foxx is still doing the same stuff and is now the good guy. None of the characters in the movie seem to change.
And the ending. The end is just stupid, and is also something you’ve seen in about half a dozen movies. Other than the nifty ways Bulter kills people, there’s nothing interesting about this movie.
At the very least, wait to rent it or go to a matinee. I really wanted to like it, but things just didn’t work out between us.