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"Mature Content Warning!" |
Clarence James Darby is the overarching antagonist of the 2009 film Law Abiding Citizen. He is a psychopathic criminal responsible for the murders of Clyde Shelton's wife and daughter, and got away with it by receiving a sentence of 3 years in jail rather than life imprisonment or death, which was the main cause why Clyde became a murderous vigilante in the first place.
He was portrayed by Christian Stolte.
What Makes Him a Hate Sink?[]
- He breaks into Clyde's home to rob him, beating him with a baseball bat so he can be subdued, and then needlessly stabbing Clyde even after he is tied up.
- He fatally stabs and rapes Clyde's wife as he watches bleeding helplessly on the floor.
- When Clyde's daughter (who's at least 5 years old) came across him trying to rape her mother, Darby took her away to kill her in another room. It's also implied that he sexually assaulted her (thus making him a pedophile), judging from his "kids like me" line.
- He blames his partner-in-crime (Rupert Ames) for killing Clyde's family to avoid death row, and then laughs when his painful death is reported on the news a decade later.
- When Nick hands him his plea deal to sign, Darby notices Nick is married and makes a sly remark about Nick's wife. Given who Darby is, this can easily be interpreted as a threat. This gets even worse with the fact Nick also has a daughter possibly around the same age as Clyde's (and considering what he remorselessly likely made to Clyde's daughter, we can't expect anything good out of this either). He only backs off when Nick threatens to withdraw the plea deal.
- He shoots at the police in their police cars when they come to arrest him on suspicion of causing Ames' death.
- He tries to kill who he assumes is a defenseless cop before it's revealed to be Clyde in disguise, after which he gets tortured to death.
- Although his death at Clyde's hands was explicitly gruesome and painful, it's hard to sympathize with him due to how vile of a human being he was in life. In fact, he was a so despicable individual that not even Nick or Sarah express much sympathy for Darby upon discovering his carcass, outright admitting that the world is better off without him.
- Overall, Darby is a coward who only targets defenseless people but then runs away from the cops (on top of throwing Ames under the bus), and none of his traits are redeeming or likable. Even Clyde—the main antagonist who has a higher body count than Darby himself—is way too tragic, clever, dignified and affable to be hated.
- Unlike Clyde Shelton and Rupert Ames, he has no redeeming, likeable and sympathetic qualities to begin with, showing how much of a vile and despicable individual he is.