Plot hole: Inmediately after Jamie Foxx finds the bomb in the city hall, and he says, "We don't tell the mayor anything", we see Gerard Butler arriving to his property next to the prison, and finally he enters his jail cell. So, in the time between Gerard Butler's arrival to the property and his entrance to the jail cell, Jamie Foxx thought about a plan, picked up the bomb, passed through the traffic and security checkpoints, talked to the warden to get access to the prison, entered solitary, handcuffed the bomb, and still had time to wait for Gerard Butler's arrival.
Law Abiding Citizen (2009)
Directed by: F. Gary Gray
Starring: Gerard Butler, Jamie Foxx, Leslie Bibb, Bruce McGill, Colm Meaney
Character mistake: In the court scene Clyde mentions a case, Day v McDonough docket number 04-1325. This is a real case, but the docket number is 04-1324.
Continuity mistake: When Darby is running from the police and heading for the police car you can see the exhaust emitting from the police cruiser tail pipe. When he gets in the car he says start the car and you can see Clyde turn the ignition/keys and the engine starts of an already idling vehicle. (00:20:35)
Trivia: The same cemetery seen here was also used in Transformers.
Clyde Shelton: 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.
Nick Rice: You think your wife and daughter would feel good about you killing in their name?
Clyde Shelton: My wife and daughter can't feel anything. They're dead.
Nick Rice: You end this!
Clyde Shelton: I'm just gettin' warmed up.
Question: I never really understood what the motive was when Clyde murdered his cellmate. Why did he do it? What did this act have to do with the plot of this movie?
Question: What was the whole thing about Clyde's house being broken into? Was it just a home invasion or something to do with his CIA past?
Question: In court, Darby asks Nick if he's married. What's the meaning of this question, and why did he ask it? Seems a bit strange to just randomly ask someone that.
Answer: Because Nick knows this man is guilty. He says it to almost imply, "well since I'm getting off, may as well make a visit to your family next. You married, Nick?"
Answer: The answer that someone else gave to this question is misleading; indicates that Clyde asked Nick if he was married. It was actually Darby who asks Nick this question. And there really is no answer except that Darby is a menace and a scoundrel. He only asked this to aggravate or pull some kind of thread at Nick. Nick knows this, which is why he replies to him the way he does.
Answer: Probably because he was married with a child, and he wanted to know if he was also married, so he could possibly relate to his situation.
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Answer: To make sure he was placed in solitary confinement. The warehouse that he owned and operated out of that was next to the prison also had a tunnel connected to every cell in the solitary wing. Clyde needed to be in one of the solitary cells so he could leave the prison whenever he needed to unnoticed, which also served to make it look like he had an accomplice on the outside.
Phaneron ★
When Nick is talking to a spook later in the movie, he is quoted as telling Nick: "That cell-mate that he killed, you think that was random? No. That's a pawn being moved off the board. Anyone who had anything to do with that case, he's gonna be coming after you." Just as all deaths played roles in Clydes game, as the audience we are led to believe this inmate played a role, but were never given any resolution as to what significance it was. Not a big deal in grand scheme of things, but unexplained.
I don't know if you just didn't read the answer thoroughly or if you didn't pay close attention to the movie, but Clyde killing his cellmate was far from being unexplained. He can't leave the prison if he's in a regular cell with the general population, so he kills the cellmate in order to get placed in the solitary wing, because every solitary cell is connected to the tunnel in his warehouse that is next to the prison, which allows him to leave whenever he needs to.
Phaneron ★