There is a long list of films similar to Law Abiding Citizen. The main characters in them are divided into three types: restoring justice, innocently sentenced, unofficial crime fighters and police, forced to act contrary to official instructions.
"Law abiding citizen"
The crime drama, filmed in 2009, tells the tragic story of a man who has lost his family. The wife and daughter of the protagonist die at the hands of criminals who entered their house with the aim of robbery. The police manage to arrest the villains, but because of the vicious legal system, the direct killer escapes serious punishment and after several years in prison is released. The main character, having lost faith in justice, decides to do the executioner's work with his own hands. He traps the killer and puts to death a medieval Chinese execution known as "death from a thousand cuts."
The main character wants to punish not only the criminal, but also an ineffective law enforcement system. He is organizing a series of elaborate assassinations of government officials responsible for the authorities' inability to protect victims of violence and punish those responsible.
Professional film critics spoke mostly about the film negatively. In their opinion, the thirst for justice of the protagonist during the course of events turns into a blind and senseless rage. Most viewers, unlike critics, gave the picture high marks. We can say with confidence that the avengers acting on their own initiative in films similar to "Law Abiding Citizen" evoke sympathy from the public. It should be noted that the picture contains a large number of extremely cruel scenes.
"On the verge"
Among the films similar to "Law-abiding Citizen," it is worth highlighting the criminal thriller, which was released in 2012. This picture is distinguished by the virtuoso interweaving of two storylines and does not allow viewers to predict the ending. The protagonist of the first story is a former policeman who was unjustly sentenced to 25 years in prison. After escaping from prison, he climbs onto the ledge of one of the New York skyscrapers and threatens to commit suicide. Representatives of the police enter into negotiations with a man who is ready to jump from a great height. An escaped prisoner requires that he be recognized as a victim of miscarriage of justice. Soon, the audience of the film becomes clear that a suicide attempt is a maneuver that distracts attention from the jewelry storehouse robbery on the other side of the street. Two storylines of the picture initially develop independently, and then merge into one.
The Unthinkable
The thriller, filmed in 2010, does not tell the story of an avenger restoring justice. However, he certainly belongs to the category of films similar to Law Abiding Citizen. The picture in question is about representatives of law enforcement agencies called to fight terrorism. In order to prevent the death of a huge number of people, they are forced to go beyond the law and humanity.
The plot of the thriller takes place around a veteran of the American army who converted to Islam while serving in Iraq. He publishes a video in which he states that three US cities have nuclear charges. The FBI manages to quickly arrest a terrorist. However, it is impossible to get him to give information about the whereabouts of the bombs. The government entrusts this task to a special specialist who has received permission to use any kind of torture during interrogation. The picture contains many bloody scenes, which is typical for TV shows and films similar to "Law-abiding citizen." The special agent quickly becomes convinced that the offender is not afraid of pain or death. The authorities have one last option - to take the terrorist family hostage. The film is devoid of political connotation, it only raises the old as the world question - does the end justify the means?
"Three days to escape"
As a result of an absurd combination of circumstances, the wife of the protagonist is imprisoned on charges of murder. To prove her innocence to the crime by legal means is impossible, and a desperate husband organizes his beloved daring escape from prison. The thriller, released in 2010, refers to films similar to "Law Abiding Citizen," despite the fact that the protagonist does not punish villains, but saves the innocent from the imperfection of the judicial system. This genre is built on the principle of restoring justice. The plots of the film "Law Abiding Citizen" and similar films are based on this idea.
If you are interested in the idea of the picture, we also suggest watching the series Dexter (2006) and Escape (2006-2009), the films Fracture (2007), Shooter (2007), The Great Equalizer ( 2014), The Silence of the Lambs (1990) and the Russian crime drama Voroshilovsky Shooter (1999).