Law Abiding Citizen: Does it have an alternate ending?

It has been confirmed that Law Abiding Citizen had alternate endings workshopped during the filming before it landed on the ending in the actual film.

Vigilante films are one of the most popular sub-genres within the action film genre.

The films are usually characterised by having an antihero as the protagonist of the story, who is out for revenge after losing their family. This trope is credited to the 1974 classic, Death Wish which was directed by Michael Winner.

While many have kept in line with the template set out by Death Wish, there are films in the sub-genre that have slightly veered from the set template. One in particular is 2009’s Law Abiding Citizen.

The film has since been confirmed to have had various alternate endings workshopped before they settled on the final ending in the film.

**Is Law Abiding Citizen a true story?**

Law Abiding Citizen’s premise is that of family man Clyde Shelton, played by Gerard Butler, seeking revenge on the judicial system and the people who murdered his family after one of the killers is given a lighter sentence after striking a deal with prosecutor Nick Rice, played by Jamie Foxx.

The overall theme of the film endeavours to highlight the loopholes in the judicial system, a commentary as poignant then as it is now, which makes it easier to believe that the film is inspired by real-life events.

However, the director, Gary F. Gray has since confirmed that the film is not based on real-life events, stating that the film “is not a documentary.”

***Law Abiding Citizen*: Does it have an alternate ending?**

After the intense climactic action sequences of Clyde Shelton exacting his revenge in Law Abiding Citizen, the film has an almost anti-climactic ending as Shelton’s final plan to bomb City Hall with all the legislative authorities in it, backfires.

This is because Nick Rice planted the bomb Shelton had intended to bomb City Hall with, in his cell.

Furthermore, instead of running when he realised that his plan backfired, Shelton welcomed death as he pulled out the “daddy” bracelet that his daughter made for him and sat in the flames before they consumed him.

The end of the movie is anti-climactic compared to the high-action scenes of the film. But this ending came as a result of the film having workshopped multiple alternate endings.

This has been confirmed in the years since the film’s release. This is as the film looked for endings that would make Nick Rice a more likeable character at the end of the film. Moreover, in most of the endings, Butler’s character died at the end.

One of the most popular alternate endings was Nick Rice killing Shelton with his own hands, resulting in his arrest and the subsequent replaying of the same narrative.

But this conclusion would have reaffirmed Rice as an unlikable character, which was what the film was looking to veer away from.

Another proposed popular alternate ending

Another popular alternate conclusion of Law Abiding Citizen which would have circulated a high-action conclusion of the film, is Clyde Shelton strapping the bomb on himself and heading to City Hall.

There, he and Nick Rice would eventually end up in a hand-to-hand combat in which Rice would come out on top again.

But this would also have made Nick Rice a more unlikable character by the end of the film and as such, the filmmakers decided against this.

**Did Jamie Foxx call for the change of Law Abiding Citizen’s conclusion**?

One of the long-running speculations is that Jamie Foxx was responsible for the anti-climactic ending of Law Abiding Citizen.

The speculation stems from the fact that the film made Foxx’s character, Nick Rice, unlikeable, with the ending working towards providing a redemptive quality about the character.

However, it has been argued that even the final ending of the film did not do a good job of that, as it ends with Rice attending his daughter’s recital.

Though the ending somewhat worked in Rice’s favour, it has since been confirmed that Foxx was not the one who decided on the conclusive ending of the film, but the decision was that of director, F. Gary Gray.

**Is Law Abiding Citizen on Netflix?**

Unfortunately for users of Netflix in the US, Law Abiding Citizen is not available. This is as the 2009 vigilante action film is available on Netflix in a number of the other countries.

Therefore, short of changing your VPN to be able to access the film on Netflix, there are alternative paid subscription video-on-demand services on which to try to watch the film.

Law Abiding Citizen is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Hulu, Philo, DirecTV, Sling TV, Vudu and NOW TV.