Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

1 suggested correction

★★★★☆

Starring: Bruce McGill, Colm Meaney, Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Leslie Bibb

Continuity mistake: When Clyde starts eating his meal from Del Friscos, his left hand is handcuffed to the bed. It is not handcuffed when he is able to get up and stab his roommate.

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Suggested correction: Prisons don't leave inmates cuffed to their beds in their cells. He was cuffed for everyone else's safety when Nick, the warden and the others were in the cell trying to found out the location of Bill Reynolds. Once everyone left the cell, he would have been released from the cuffs.

Phaneron

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Mistakes

Plot hole: Inmediately after Jamie Foxx finds the bomb in the city hall, and he says, "We don't tell the mayor anything", we see Gerard Butler arriving to his property next to the prison, and finally he enters his jail cell. So, in the time between Gerard Butler's arrival to the property and his entrance to the jail cell, Jamie Foxx thought about a plan, picked up the bomb, passed through the traffic and security checkpoints, talked to the warden to get access to the prison, entered solitary, handcuffed the bomb, and still had time to wait for Gerard Butler's arrival.

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Quotes

Nick Rice: You think your wife and daughter would feel good about you killing in their name?
Clyde Shelton: My wife and daughter can't feel anything. They're dead.

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Trivia

Trivia: The same cemetery seen here was also used in Transformers.

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Questions

Question: I never really understood what the motive was when Clyde murdered his cellmate. Why did he do it? What did this act have to do with the plot of this movie?

Answer: To make sure he was placed in solitary confinement. The warehouse that he owned and operated out of that was next to the prison also had a tunnel connected to every cell in the solitary wing. Clyde needed to be in one of the solitary cells so he could leave the prison whenever he needed to unnoticed, which also served to make it look like he had an accomplice on the outside.

Phaneron

When Nick is talking to a spook later in the movie, he is quoted as telling Nick: "That cell-mate that he killed, you think that was random? No. That's a pawn being moved off the board. Anyone who had anything to do with that case, he's gonna be coming after you." Just as all deaths played roles in Clydes game, as the audience we are led to believe this inmate played a role, but were never given any resolution as to what significance it was. Not a big deal in grand scheme of things, but unexplained.

I don't know if you just didn't read the answer thoroughly or if you didn't pay close attention to the movie, but Clyde killing his cellmate was far from being unexplained. He can't leave the prison if he's in a regular cell with the general population, so he kills the cellmate in order to get placed in the solitary wing, because every solitary cell is connected to the tunnel in his warehouse that is next to the prison, which allows him to leave whenever he needs to.

Phaneron

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