Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

With Law Abiding Citizenhitting cinemas next week, JOE GRIFFINtakes a look at the changing face of vigilantes in the movies, from gung-ho action men to more ambivalent anti-heroes

The opening moments of the forthcoming Law Abiding Citizenwill look familiar to modern audiences: a picture-perfect family is destroyed by violent home invaders, prompting the father of the brood to later take up arms and seek revenge. However, while this could be a description of any number of vigilante revenge movies , Law Abiding Citizenmakes a villain of the avenging angel, played by Gerard Butler. While director F Gary Gray’s film is far from a smart treatise on right and wrong, it is interesting to see a mainstream movie frown upon those who take the law into their own hands.