Law Abiding Citizen (Steelbook) [4K Ultra HD]

Director: F. Gary Gray

Cast: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Viola Davis

Release Date: May 20, 2025

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 7.5/10

Synopsis:

A psychopathic mastermind (Gerard Butler) captured for the murder of his wife’s killers threatens to unleash a gruesome killing spree across the city of Philadelphia unless he is released. The prosecuting attorney (Jamie Foxx) refuses and suddenly innocent people start dying in horrifying ways – just as the prisoner warned. The city falls into chaos, with everyone calling for the attorney’s head. Desperate, he comes to the realization that his decisions might be what created this horrifying vigilante, and he is the only one who can stop him.

‘Law Abiding Citizen’ tells the brutal tale of a family man with a dark past who has his life upended when two men invade his home and brutally murder his wife and daughter. After the prosecuting attorney ignores his wishes and cuts a deal with one of the men and allows the other to skate by with nearly no punishment, he takes matters into his own hands, torturing and murdering the man years later. Before long he is arrested for his crime of revenge but unfortunately it’s only the beginning for the same attorney once this intelligent and very skilled man begins to wreak havoc throughout the city and try to enact his own form of vengeance against the flawed justice system.

Directed by F. Gary Gray who does a capable job in the director’s chair for ‘Law Abiding Citizen’ smoothly guiding along the tense, brutal excitement from a screenplay written by Kurt Wimmer. The film also benefits from a notable cast which includes Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Viola Davis, Leslie Bibb, Regina Hall, Colm Meaney, Bruce McGill, Michael Irby and more, with each offering decent performances at the absolute least in their respective roles throughout.

‘Law Abiding Citizen’ was originally released theatrically in 2009 and took viewers for a wild and unexpectedly brutal ride. The film still holds up remarkably well today just over fifteen years after its debut and delivers a wildly tense, gnarly and at times even uncomfortable ride into one man’s determination to enact vengeance on the justice system that wronged him and his murdered wife and daughter. Featuring some shocking and notably bloody moments and chaos along the way, paired with the solid guidance of director F. Gary Gray and a capable cast led by rewarding performances from Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx, it delivers a thrilling and intense ride that doesn’t let off the gas once it really gets going. If you’ve never had the pleasure of ‘Law Abiding Citizen’ but enjoy a solid action thriller with a good cast to back it up, then this one is very much worth checking out whenever possible.

‘Law Abiding Citizen’ returns home on 4K Ultra HD in a new 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Steelbook release available exclusively from Amazon. The new release offers previously released 4K UHD and Blu-ray discs of the film (with the 4K disc featuring the original Theatrical Cut and the Blu-ray including the Unrated Director’s Cut) along with a digital code and a handful of entertaining extras, all in a snazzy, nicely designed new Steelbook with a slipcover that contributes to the Steel’s art.

The UHD video presentation looks very good altogether and is only enhanced by an active and immersive Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack on the theatrical cut featured on the 4K UHD disc, while the fairly old Blu-ray (the Anchor Bay/Starz logo pops up when loading making it clear that it’s not a new disc) holds up fairly well in addition and includes the Unrated edition. This nice looking new Steelbook release will work great for fans that don’t already own the film (or don’t own it on 4K) and for them it’s recommended, although for those that already do own the previous release it will be up to whether the artwork justifies a double dip because the disc content should be identical.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Steelbook release of ‘Law Abiding Citizen’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition video presentation of the Theatrical Cut with Dolby Vision and HDR-10 presented in its original 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks good as a whole and offers a clean, crisp and richly detailed presentation throughout that never suffers from any notable issues or faults to be uncovered along the way. Detail is great on characters, scenery and action, along with the darker moments and fast moving action sequences which hold up smoothly without any resulting issues. The Dolby Vision HDR nicely upgrades various bits of color throughout from clothing to blood and surroundings, while black levels also remain clean, deep and problem free. Overall, this is a solid Ultra High Definition presentation that may not be the finest the format has ever seen but holds up very nicely nonetheless and should excite fans who don’t already own the 4K edition.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack delivers a crisp, clean and consistently immersive audio presentation throughout. It repeatedly takes advantage of all seven available channels in order to send music, action and vehicle effects, explosions and debris, plus crowd chatter and other tidbits whipping throughout the various speakers when appropriate, while never causing any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered inaudible in the process. Overall, this is a pretty great Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that never disappoints and throws you right into the middle of the chaos.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Steelbook release of ‘Law Abiding Citizen’ features some previously released extras as well as the Unrated Director’s Cut of the film on the Blu-ray disc. Included on the release is an ‘Audio Commentary with Producers Lucas Foster and Alan Siegel’ which the case and news release oddly note as ‘Only on the Blu-ray’ although in reality it’s only on the 4K disc as the Blu-ray only features the Unrated edition without commentary. Also featured is a collection of Behind the Scenes Featurettes including ‘The Justice of Law Abiding Citizen’ (running approximately 6 minutes in length), ‘Law in Black and White – Behind the Scenes’ (running approximately 15 minutes) and Preliminary Arguments: The Visual Effects of Law Abiding Citizen’ (approximately 7 minutes altogether). ‘The Verdict: Winning Trailer Mash-Up’ (1 minute) and the ‘Theatrical Trailer’ (2 minutes) for the film are also included.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Unrated Blu-Ray disc included in the 4K UHD Combo Pack and resized. They do not represent the quality of the 4K Ultra HD disc itself and will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on the 4K UHD & Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Disc Rating: 7.5/10

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‘Law Abiding Citizen’ is Now Available to Own in a 4K Ultra HD Steelbook Available Exclusively at Amazon from Lionsgate

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You can purchase ‘Law Abiding Citizen’ on 4K UHD Steelbook at Amazon HERE!

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