With Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx, Law Abiding Citizen was a sure-fire hit even before it was Released to audiences. With a compelling storyline and phenomenal acting from both the leads, and the duality between the perceived notions about hero and anti-hero between the two characters, it is still a movie that occupies you when you watch it, as you feel the pain felt by Clyde and the frustration felt by Rice.
With a movie as engaging as Law Abiding Citizen, it’s no wonder people start looking for similar movies as soon as they finish it, and here we are. With a list of movies like Law Abiding Citizen and movies like Law Abiding Citizen.
The movie follows Butler’s character Clyde Shelton, a former defense engineer, who witnesses his family getting murdered at the hands of a gangster. While the legal process implicates the duo that did the dirty deed, the prosecution cannot build a case against Darby and instead executes his accomplice, who had little to do with the killing.
What follows is a killing spree perpetrated by the seemingly mild-mannered Clyde, as he uses his technical and defense engineering prowess to wipe out all that work in the corrupt system. Honest and enthusiastic district attorney Nick Rice, however, sees things differently and tries to stop this spate of killings. The movie on a poignant note; the last bomb meant for the mayor of the corrupt is what ends up Clyde himself, as he lays in bed, remembering his family.
The movie is moving and at the same time, filled to the brim with action, adrenaline and awesome sequences of meticulous planning and dispatching the bombs and whatnot. Whether or not you like it, it did have a big impact on the movie-goer’s community, which makes people want more, culminating in searches for more movies like Law Abiding Citizen and movies similar to Law Abiding Citizen.
Without any further ado, here’s a list of movies like Law Abiding Citizen.
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Movies Like Law Abiding Citizen- Similar Movies
These movies, similar to Law Abiding Citizen, focus on the themes of revenge, vigilante-justice, corrupt societies and a one-man army going off on all, using militaristic training, weapons or fighting prowess. Here is a list of movies like Law Abiding Citizen.
The Equalizer (Released in 2014)
We can’t talk urban vigilantism and not mention Denzel Washington; the man has literally made nearly all of his movies along the same themes of vigilante justice and a one-man army waging war on the baddies.
So, for his most successful attempt at such a film from such a niche, we have The Equalizer, Released in 2014, which sees Washington’s character Robert McCall, a retired agencyman, try and succeed in correcting world around him,
starting with a teenage prostitute, whom he rescues from the Russian mafia, inadvertently exposing their influences in the police force of the city and allowing him to purge the society of the elements of distaste.
A movie very similar to Law Abiding Citizen.
Non-Stop (Released in 2014)
The great grandaddy of all ‘lone hunter who dispenses vigilante justice’, it would be a crime to make such a list and then forget to include Liam Neeson of the Taken and The Dark Knight franchise fame.
In this list however, he’s in a different movie; this time around, its Non-Stop, where as a Federal Air Marshal, Neeson takes on the role of Mark, as an alcoholic air marshal who becomes embroiled in a terroristic attempt to down the entire plane, claiming 200+ lives.
In his signature acting and ‘overcoming baddies’ fighting style, Neeson has to contend with a hidden enemy, his unwilling accomplice and a plane full of people who mistake him for the terrorist, not to mention an elaborate plot to pin the blame on him for all this. What ensues is the movie that bought Neeson back into the action game for good.
A truly exciting movie.
Also Read: Movies Like 500 Days of Summer: a List
Contraband (Released in 2012)
With Mark Wahlberg as the lead actor, Contraband sees his character, Chris Farraday come out of retirement from his job as a smuggler to help his brother-in-law settle some scores with a local drug lord.
To do this, they go down to Panama to purchase fake bills to either circulate them or pay the lord off using them, but things take a turn for the worse when they are forced to buy cocaine, leaving their plan in shambles.
The movie then goes on to show Farraday’s resilience and his ability to deal with many adversaries at one time, as he manages to secure the stash for his brother-in-law, saving his life, all the while making enough for himself to retire quietly in a secluded place.
Parker (Released in 2013)
Jason Statham clocks it in as Parker, the titular character, a master thief who is double-crossed and left for dead by a crew he is working with.
However, he manages to survive, and escapes the police from a hospital who are looking for him in connection with the robbery.
Now, he swears revenge on them, and in comes Jennifer Lopez’s character, as a real estate agent, who manages to deduce his real identity and offers him help for some of the cash. In the end, Parker manages to kill his former crew, steal from them all the jewels they stole, and fence them, giving a huge sum to Leslie, Lopez’s character.
A not-so-good attempt at making a movie like Law Abiding Citizen.
Snitch (Released in 2013)
Snitch sees Dwayne Johnson in one of his more mediocre acting roles, playing a father who uncovers the truth behind his son being set up to take the fall for a drug dealer friend of his.
As the owner of a construction company, he sets out to implicate and catch a bigger fish for the DEA, who have agreed to let his son out on a lighter sentence if a more significant player in the drugs game is given to them.
What follows is Johnson’s attempts to gain confidence with the underworld, and how he gets the drug lord to give himself up to the DEA.
A movie similar to Law Abiding Citizen.
