Law Abiding Citizen Daughter
Clyde returns to his cell and is surprised that Nick is waiting for him. Clyde offers another deal, but Nick, who has finally figured it out, says he no longer deals with murderers. Nick tries to argue with Clyde, but Clyde activates the suitcase bomb, forcing Nick to close Clyde`s cell behind him. When Clyde hears the detonator ring, he discovers the bomb under his bed and realizes too late that Nick has brought the bomb to his cell. Clyde smiled briefly and returned to bed. He retreats and looks at his daughter`s bracelet when the bomb explodes. But Nick also cares about justice and he also cares about his family. He now has a 10-year-old daughter, and although we learn that he missed many of his cello concertos, he eventually makes up for it by visiting one. Clyde Shelton saw an attacker rape and kill his wife while he cried and bled on the floor of his home. Then, when he lost consciousness, he saw the same attacker pick up his young daughter and carry her into the doghouses of the house. And we don`t know what happens to Clyde`s daughter — a girl maybe 6 or 7 years old — in the moments leading up to her murder.
Clarence James Darby is the main antagonist of the 2009 film Law Abiding Citizen. He is a psychopathic criminal responsible for the murders of Clyde Shelton`s wife and daughter, and got away with it, advocating for a three-year prison sentence instead of life imprisonment or death, which was the main reason Clyde became a murderous vigilante in the first place. Although the original film was not very successful in the critical arena, it seemed to be a huge success at the box office, bringing in a comfortable $127 million at the box office upon its release. Law Abiding Citizen succeeded Butler in the lead role of Clyde Shelton, who was once a happy family man until his wife and daughter were killed in a home invasion. When Assistant District Attorney Nick Rice, played by Foxx, pleads with the killers to keep his 99% conviction rate afloat, Clyde blames him for his family`s death and sets out to destroy the entire justice system as a form of personal justice. Clyde must then watch Clarence sadistically rape and murder his wife, and then murder Clyde`s daughter, who was also watching. Although Clarence and Ames have been arrested by the police, Clyde is shocked to realize that the lead prosecutor, Nick Rice (the hero of the film), does not intend to take Clarence Darby to court because the evidence is insufficient (DNA evidence is inadmissible and Clyde`s testimony would not be useful since he has become black) and he does not want to risk. to reduce its high conviction rate. As such, Rice struck a deal with Darby, who pleaded guilty to murder to a very small extent, in exchange for testimony against Ames. Because of this plea, he spent only three years in prison, while Ames was sentenced to death for rape and murder, which caused Clyde Shelton to panic.
The most obvious homage to the horror film about torture comes soon enough, when Clyde captures and neutralizes the man Darby, who killed his wife and daughter. Step One: He grabs a gun to write spikes into Darby`s hand when the killer pulls the trigger. (We see the bruised wounds when Clyde Darby lifts the gun from his hand.) The spines are loaded with a poison that paralyzes man, but does not disturb his ability to feel pain. Step Two: Clyde ties Darby to a table and prepares him for a piecemeal dissection. He ties tourniquets around Darby`s limbs to make sure he doesn`t bleed “prematurely.” He injects Darby with adrenaline to keep him awake. He swings a can cutter, which, he says, is used by Darby to cut critical parts of his body. It positions a full-length mirror so that the paralytic can see the entire operation. And then he starts the power tools. The epilogue shows Nick watching his daughter play on stage, an event he had previously struggled to time. During a house invasion in Philadelphia, Clarence Darby murders the wife and daughter of engineer Clyde Shelton, who is forced to watch. Prosecutor Nick Rice is unable to convict Darby with certainty on the basis of poorly managed evidence.
Not wanting to risk reducing his high conviction rate, he made a deal with Darby. In exchange for testimony against his accomplice Rupert Ames (who only intended to rob Clyde and escape), Darby pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and received a lighter sentence. Ames is sentenced to death, while Darby is released after a few years. Clyde feels betrayed by Nick and justice. The ensuing criminal trial should have been a slam dunk. Clyde saw the man who murdered his wife and daughter. He saw his accomplice ransack his house. His DNA was found at the scene. But for some reason, DNA evidence is not admissible, and Clyde`s own testimony may be questionable because he fainted during the attack. Nick Price, the city`s attorney, is reluctant to take the case to court, fearing a defeat would tarnish his win-lose record. So he makes a deal: the death penalty for one of the attackers, a charge of third-degree murder – with about five years in prison – for the other.
“Better some justice,” he argues, “than no justice at all.” Although he has managed to take revenge on Darby, Clyde plans to kill others involved in Darby`s joint conviction. He also sent a video of himself murdering Darby to Rice`s house, deeply traumatizing Rice`s daughter, to mock Rice for the deal with Darby. In the end, before Clyde`s death, Rice admits that he truly regrets making a deal with Darby, stating that he is done with the killers, acknowledging to Clyde that he taught him a lesson, much to Clyde`s delight. Step Three: Clyde sends a DVD of the entire operation to Nick`s house, where Nick`s daughter accidentally watches him. Clyde tells Nick that he wants to tear down the country`s flawed justice system. “[I`m] put the temple on your head,” he said, referring to Sampson`s story.
