The Deeper Meaning of The ‘Law Abiding Citizen’ Poster

Posted by Robin Ruinsky (robin@filmschoolrejects.com) on September 10, 2009

LawAbidingCitizenHeader

The new poster for the Gerard Butler/Jamie Foxx thriller Law Abiding Citizen has appeared over at Cinematical. The poster depicts Foxx against a mottled gray to white background and Butler against blood red. Both actors look out from the poster, intense, focused and clearly on opposite sides in this story about murder, justice denied and revenge.

LawAbidingCitizenPoster

Are these just arresting images or visual metaphors or both? Butler against the blood red backdrop is obvious. His character is a man whose wife and child are brutalized and murdered in front of him. Left with what he sees as no choice he turns to violence to exact his revenge on the system and the people in it.

Foxx is trapped in a no man’s land of black, white and gray. He’s the cool rational cog in a legal system that doesn’t always serve up justice, but often settles for the expedient deal.

This looks like an interesting film filled with explosions not only from special effects, but from the two actors who go head to head.  It’s a game of cat and mouse gone ballistic.

Law Abiding Citizen opens on October 16.

What do you think of the poster? Are you looking forward to the film?


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  • iamcg
    The trailer was wonderful and made we want to see the film.
    Since seeing that, I was exciting to see what seems to be a new take on this genre.

    The posters, however, are cliché at best.
    They dumb down what were once both characters operating in the gray area between good and bad, and attempted to push them into easily digestible stereotypes.

    These posters do a disservice to the hard work of the film makers involved in creating what promises to be a very interesting movie. They are a distraction at best. And, worse yet, probably more of an annoyance to potential movie-goers.

    Remember the obnoxious poster campaign for "The Spirit," directed by Frank Miller?

    The posters for the "Law Abiding Citizen" ad campaign had the same bile-inducing effect on me as those.
  • Icarus II
    The lower half of Gerard Butler's face is left out of the poster. What does that symbolize?
  • robinruinsky
    The deep symbolism of the poster leaving off the lower half of Butler's face is that you're not seeing the full poster in the picture above. Go to http://www.cinematical.com/photos/law-abiding-c... and you can see the entire poster.
    There was an earlier poster. Butler was seen within Foxx's face. I have a feeling it was dropped because of the similarity to the poster for Butler's latest film Gamer.
  • Susie
    I thought the original poster was the best one.
  • robinruinsky
    I liked the one where Butler kind of looms behind and through Foxx. There were some others similar to the one show at cinematical.
    Is this the one you're referring to http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content/uploads/rg...
    I like it. This is the one that has some similarities to the Gamer poster though not as much as I thought. Butler's face isn't within Foxx's as I described it in my other comment.
  • michele
    The poster and the tag line are just to similar to the poster for the movie" Face Off" use this link http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1517392640/tt0119094 to compare. I'm disappointed that they could not come up with something more original poor choice. Definitely not a poster that makes me want to see the film. Thank goodness the trailer was good.
  • shirsan
    Love the poster, CAN NOT WAIT for the movie.
    Gerry Butler has it all: charisma, charm, talent, intelligence, strength, grace,
    gentleness, a sweet spirit, and, he is absolutely GORGEOUS!!
    He never disappoints me. He always brings his characters to life. He makes them totally believable. I have never seen an actor that could play so many genres and all to perfection.
    I can't wait to see him play this particular character. It should be a character that will
    show many of this fantastic actor's capabilities. He has so much range it is unbelievable.
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