Then we’ve got the ‘good guy’ who does bad things, and never really does anything to redeem himself, let alone make you feel relieved he reaches the credits unscathed, and as the unlikely winner of this game of cat and mouse.

In this at times flimsy and far-fetched thriller, we've got the likable Scotsman Gerard Butler playing a devoted American husband and father, Clyde Shelton, who within the first five minutes is forced to watch his young family tragically ripped apart following a home invasion.

After remaining helpless again as the despicable Clarence Darby (Christian Sholte) deals with a hot shot young Philadelphia prosecutor, and general prick of a human being, Nick Rice (Jamie Foxx), in order to save his own ass and send his accomplice, and certainly the lesser of the two evils, Rupert Ames (Josh Stewart), to death row.

It goes without saying that Shelton, a mildly successful inventor and an apparently harmless individual, does not take too kindly to how 'justice' has played out, and over the next 10 years has plotted his revenge and in at times extravagant fashion - mainly against the system that disrespected him and wife and kid.

This is the first movie from African American director F. Gary Gray since Be Cool (2005), with John Travolta and Uma Thurman, and he doesn't mess about when it comes to setting up the action and getting into it.

After a very brief intro, a tender moment between Shelton and his daughter (Ksenia Hulavey), the family is set upon by the low-life intruders, dad beaten over the head and bound with duct tape, mum (Brooke Mills) raped and killed and their little girl seemingly headed the same way.

By the 25-minute mark, Shelton is already behind bars after giving himself up to police following the brutal murder of Ames (even though he was in the gas chamber) and the even more brutal killing of Darby, which, along with the way he had cleverly been set up by Shelton, is like something out of the Saw series. It is one of several unabashed attempts at shock and awe. Some of which actually work. Others don't.

Gray seems to love dealing with revenge, if A Man Apart (2003), with Denzel Washington, and even The Italian Job (2003) with Mark Wahlberg, is anything to go by. And he almost succeeds here in delivering another satisfying tale of 'payback' anyone who loves anyone could certainly appreciate.

From a script by Kurt Wimmer (who also wrote Sphere (1998), The Thomas Crown Affair (1998) and Street Kings (2008), and wrote and directed Equilibrium (2002) and Ultraviolet (2006)), Gray has you enjoying the ride Shelton is on early in the piece – especially if you're into a bit of torture as a form of vengeance like me.

All from his jail cell, Shelton shows himself to possess a truly devious mind, and god help anyone in his way. He soon ups the ante and focuses his fury on the flawed justice system and the powers that be, and it’s here he crosses the line and ventures into genuine villain-we-shouldn't-like-but-do territory. We just don't see enough of him - though he does go starkers right before his capture by police.

The story takes an interesting turn when it is revealed that what Rice and the D.A.'s office, acting more like members of the Philadelphia Police Force, is dealing with in Shelton is a man vastly experienced when it comes to assassinations (but not by his own hand) as a defense contractor for the US Government.

An insider named Bray explains to Rice and the D.A., Jonas Cantell (Bruce McGill), "... spies are a dime a dozen. I'm a spy. Clyde is a brain. He's a think tank-type guy. His specialty was low-impact kinetic operations ... We kill people. He figured out how to do it without ever being in the same room. It was his gift, and he was the best ...

He goes on, "He's in jail, it's because he wants to be in jail. He's a born tactician. Every move that he makes, it means something. That cell mate that he killed, what, you think that was random? No. That's a pawn being moved off the board. If I were you, I'd be lookin' for the next piece. Anybody who had anything to do with that case, he's gonna be comin' after you.”

Shelton wants to teach Rice, now the Assistant D.A., and his kind an important lesson - don't make deals with murderers - and they are getting taught the hard way, with many of the people involved in the case a decade earlier turning up dead in all manner of inventive and gory ways, including one of the worst judges you will ever see in cinema, Laura Burch (Annie Corley), whose phone leaves more than some ringing in her ears.

"I'm gonna pull the whole thing down. I'm gonna bring the whole fuckin' diseased, corrupt temple down on your head. It's gonna be biblical," says Shelton, who though begins taking things a little too far, remains an intriguing character, along the lines of a Hannibal Lector, but without the cannibalism.

It is towards the latter stages of the film though that both Shelton’s brilliant plans and the movie’s interesting plot starts to fall apart, before finally coming completely undone by a disappointing final act - or more to the point, the movie any hint of intelligence and its balls.

What we end up with is this great criminal-mind suddenly turning into someone more like Dr Evil, in a sense he leaves his tracks uncovered so badly he almost wants to get caught. But, the only thing is, we now know he doesn’t ‘cause he already has been.

(More spoliers ahead) Shelton (or screenwriter Wimmer) becomes too clever for his own good when Rice discovers that he has actually been sneaking out of prison in order to set up the devices for his acts of ‘evil’. He has been able to do so via a massive underground tunnel system that he had dug over the past few years from a nearby warehouse to the isolation cell he is now in (… well sometimes in). Amazingly, it had not been uncovered earlier.

It throws out the theory, and a more believable albeit generic one, of an accomplice - and that accomplice possibly being Sarah Lowell (Leslie Bibb), a colleague and friend of Rice, which may have been an interesting twist, and had been hinted at a couple of times throughout the film.

Finally, in an anti-climatic conclusion to the film, Shelton carelessly leaves the bomb he wants to explode in city hall in a briefcase for all to see. The movie goes out with a bang but it’s not the bang I wanted to see, Shelton left in flames after being outplayed by Rice, a concept that defies belief if you’ve just sat through the ensuing 100-minutes.

While he inadvertently caused most of the carnage that takes place after the first act thanks to his wheeling and dealing, Rice gets away pretty much scot-free … sadly.

Played by a Foxx who seems to be just going through the motions in this role, Rice is not someone to be routing for, even after his friends and workmates are taken out. I certainly didn’t wish death upon the smarmy lawyer-type, he does have a young family himself after all, but a good kick up the ass would’ve been suffice for a finish.

Smelton getting away, or even dying as a martyr, even better.

RATING
Disappointing endings like these should be against the law