Law Abiding Citizen Trailer Analysis

Law Abiding Citizen Trailer Analysis

The trailer begins with a high angle shot looking out over the city of Philadelphia. We then see a close up of a man, he is seen to be a family man as he is seen with wife and daughter, during this shot we hear slow paced and peaceful non diegetic music. This tells us that this man lives a peaceful and happy life with his family. However his peaceful life is soon disrupted as a group of criminals break into his house and murder his wife and daughter. There are many examples of mise-en-scene with these criminals, for example they are seen to have tattoos, wearing black clothing, holding baseball bats, wearing hats and are seen to be unshaven. One of the men is also seen to be wearing a white vest. These are all stereotypes often associated with criminals, as the colour black has connotations of evilness and bad, while the baseball bat has connotations of pain and violence and the tattoos are often associated with toughness and criminal activity. As these men enter the house the non-diegetic music then gets loud and faster, this represents his life from going from peaceful and happy to sadness and anger. We then are shown a close up of the man tied up and taped at the mouth; he is seen to be angry as he watches what is going on before him.  This shot then fades to the titles of “Overtune Films” the fact that the editing used is a fade could show that his hope and also his life are fading away as a result of what has just happened.

We then see an over the shoulder shot of a man wearing a suit, the fact that he is wearing a suit could tell us that this man is of importance. He is heard saying the diegetic dialogue of “Some justice is better than no justice at all” this tells us that the men have got away with the murder of the man’s wife and daughter, this then begins to tell us the plot of the film. We then see the high angle shot of the city of Philadelphia that we saw at the start of the trailer again. This shows us that there could be something significant about this shot, such as a building. We then see a long shot of the man looking on in the distance following one of the criminals getting away for the murder. This shot an example of deep focus as we can clearly see the man in the background but not the people who are stood near him, who are slightly obscuring him. The fact that the people around him are obscuring him shows us that he is seen to not be important and not noticed. This shot then zooms into a close up of the man showing him to be both angry and confused following the verdict of the trial.

We then see an example of shallow focus in the shape of a long shot of a prison looking through a barbed wire fence. The barbed wire fence could represent the man looking through and monitoring what is going on with the criminals in the prison and that he will never be able to move on from the events that have happened and he will never forgive both the criminals who killed his family and the justice system for letting him down.  The man is then seen to get revenge on the men who murdered his family but murdering them. He is seen ruthlessly torturing one of them; this shows him to be a completely changed man from the family man we see at the start.

We then see a long shot of the man talking to the man in the suit from earlier in the trailer, who is a lawyer.  The two are seen to be talking within a cage, this could show that both are in fact criminals for their actions, the man for the killing the men who murdered his family and the lawyer for letting the men go free. Further on into the trailer we see a close up of the man and he is heard to say the diegetic dialogue of “I kill everyone” this shows how much this man has changed going from the kind family man to the serious, determined and evil murderer. We then see a low angle shot looking up at the man as he is being escorted away by armed Police officers. The fact that a low angle shot is used could show us that despite being in prison and surrounded by armed Police he is still dominant and in control within the film. We then see a number of explosions in a car park surrounding the lawyer and leaving him fearing for his life. The trailer ends with a long shot of the man standing with his back towards the camera as flames appear in the background with him looking towards them. These flames could represent the man as possibly being the devil or going to hell.