City Hall looks great.
That's probably the nicest thing we can say about "Law Abiding Citizen," the Jamie Foxx-Gerard Butler revenge drama set in Philadelphia that hits theaters today. The movie captures the heft and majesty of the massive stone government building, from the top of Billy Penn's hat, to the sweeping stair cases, to the ornate court rooms and elaborate City Council chambers.
During an action sequence when it looks like City Hall might suffer irrevocable harm, we actually tensed up.
Sadly, we never connected in the same way with any of the actual characters in "Citizen," a laughable thriller directed by F. Gary Gray that features wooden performances from its two stars and suffers under the misguided belief that high tech gizmos can stand in for plotting and character development.
If you've seen the detailed trailer, you know the basic premise: Butler plays Clyde Shelton a man whose wife and daughter are killed by two thugs. He is then outraged when assistant District Attorney Nick Rice (played by a bland and emotionless Foxx) makes a plea deal with one of the deadly duo, thus sparing him from life in prison or the electric chair.
And so Butler, who has the ability to develop any number of high-tech death gadgets, exacts his revenge – ie, by killing most of the cast. He does some of this from within prison, playing cat and mouse games with Foxx and throwing out increasingly ridiculous one liners ("some lessons must be learned in blood,") in a shaky American accent.
Meanwhile, Foxx – displaying none of his Oscar-winning acting skills – sleepwalks through most of the movie, suffering through a series of explosions, shootings, car bombs and boring conversations about right and wrong with Clyde, before emerging as the good guy in the end.
Mayor Nutter has a brief walk-on role and emerges unscathed. For his sake, we just hope enough folks in Hollywood see how great City Hall is in "Citizen" and come back here to make a better movie.