MOVIES

Clyde (Gerard Butler) is a loving family man who dotes upon his daughter. However, after a home invasion brings his idyll to a brutal end and the courts fail to mete out proper justice, Clyde goes crazy. Well, not quite, because he keeps a cool head as he launches into his campaign to set right the system that failed him. He's insistent that he's not an avenging angel targeting those who've wronged him, that his goals are political. And he actually makes some good points as he argues that US justice is failing the nation, explaining to the oh-so-slick chief prosecutor Nick (Jamie Foxx), "I'm at war with this broken thing that brought us together." Since Clyde is taking no prisoners and cares nothing for those who might get caught in the crossfire, Nick and the police force have to resort to his tactics in order to restore order. Written by Kurt Wimmer (The Recruit) and directed by F. Gary Gray (A Man Apart), Law Abiding Citizen (which is how Clyde describes himself) is not the kind of film where characters are smoothly rounded and underlying issues are given coherent consideration. The film has a plot that plays around with a couple of familiar moral quandaries: What should a law-abiding citizen do when the law fails him? How should a society defend itself against those who would destroy it? One doesn't have to look too hard here to find Osama bin Laden or a rednecked gun-lobby loony being channelled through Clyde, minus their accents. Like them, he is an insurgent, in fact a terrorist, who isn't prepared to allow the system to try to mend itself. It's a pity that the film overplays its hand by pushing Clyde so far over the top. Less might have led to a more measured consideration of his accusations. Essentially, though, Gray isn't really interested in all of this. His goal here is to up our adrenalin with some good old-fashioned edge-of-the-seat stuff rather than to have us depart the cinema reflecting on the politics of what we've just seen.

tv previews

Travels With a Tangerine

New release

Rating: 3.5/5 FANTASTIC MR FOX (PG, 94 minutes). On general release

Movies - Friday, September 25

Click (2006)

movies

Vinegar Hill (2005) Seven, noon Blood Brothers (2004) SBS One, midnight

A career of firsts came second to a love of family

BEWIGGED and draped in the red robes of office, Victoria's Supreme Court justices lent a splash of vivid colour to the state funeral of their former chief justice, John Harber Phillips AC, yesterday.

Racing loses real gentleman

A PALL descended upon Canterbury yesterday as the racing industry mourned the loss of one of its true gentleman. Horseman Pat Quinn, 63, was taking boots off his sole runner for the day, Insensitive, when the mare jammed the trainer against a saddling-stall partition.

Vale 'Viper' as a boxer's life gets dangerous €” outside the ring

BOXING can be dangerous, no doubt about it, but at least in boxing you get a pair of gloves, a referee and, if you are lucky, a decent cut man. Life, on the other hand, just keeps knocking you down. In life, you just bleed. Vernon "The Viper" Forrest

Let love, compassion and hope guide your life

'YOU are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men."

Man about town

Actor James Nesbitt has been in Melbourne appearing in a new movie for Nadia Tass. And, he tells Clare Kermond, he's liked what he's seen.

A Young Father Slain, A Family's New Life Destroyed

THIS is the first picture released of the loving father found murdered in a bathtub in a grisly unsolved Sydney crime.

The State's Most-wanted Man And A Town In Fear

THE State's most wanted man has turned up in a remote bush community, terrifying residents who claim police are ignoring their plight.

A Mate's One Last Buffing For Man Of Steel

AUSTRALIA'S "man of steel" was how the US President, George Bush, dubbed the former prime minister John Howard, who has been honoured with the US's highest civilian award, the Medal of Freedom, for his efforts as an ally in fighting terrorism.

Shooting Puzzle As Man Found Wounded On Road

MYSTERY surrounds a shooting in which a man was left lying wounded by the side of the road in Hallam early yesterday.

Narooma Man Expected To Be Charged Over Murder

A NAROOMA man is expected to be charged in Batemans Bay Local Court this morning with the murder of 47-year-old Sam Connelly of Narooma.

Killer Father's Dark Past: A Liar Who Abandoned His First Family

ONLY by his death has the secret life of Gary Mark Bell been revealed. The man who killed his three children and himself last week on their remote South Coast property was really named Gary Poxon, a moniker he left behind when he abandoned his first partner and several children.