10 Awesome Movies That Fail In The 3rd Act
9. Law Abiding Citizen
Law Abiding Citizen is a savagely fun movie until deep into its third act, where it commits a late-stage sin so unforgivable as to damn-near derail the entire film.
The unapologetically absurd thriller sees Clyde Shelton (Gerard Butler) taking revenge on not only the assailants who murdered his wife and daughter, but also those working within the law who denied him true justice.
And so, Shelton spends the bulk of the film cooking up hilariously elaborate deaths for his targets - hiding an explosive inside a judge's (Viola Davis) phone, unleashing a machine gun-totting robot on a funeral procession, and blowing up a bunch of cars.
Given Shelton's righteous anger at the American justice system and how utterly loathable the "hero" - cynical attorney Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx) - is, it's incredibly easy to root for Shelton, no matter the undeniable death and destruction he causes.
As a result, many were left deeply dissatisfied that the film ended with Rice tricking Shelton, by taking his bomb intended to blow up City Hall and hiding it within his own jail cell, in turn killing Shelton when it detonates.
It leaves a sour taste because Rice is such an unlikeable character who works as an agent for a corrupt, unjust enterprise. The film frames it as though we're supposed to cheer Rice's victory, but ultimately it just bummed most everybody out.
Had Shelton and Rice both died in the explosion it would've cushioned the blow somewhat (pun intended), while serving as a commentary on the destructive power of vengeance.
Instead, the "happy" ending felt pointlessly tacked on, and ran counter to the enticing meanness of the film up to that point.