Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

Bruce McGill: Jonas Cantrell

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Quotes 

• Jonas Cantrell : Tell us what we're dealing with. Shelton was a spy?

  Bray : Look, 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.

  Nick Rice : That's a hell of a fancy way to say that he kills people.

  Bray : 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. One time, we're tasking this tricky target. I mean, we're usin' cruise missiles and Predators, and we even had a B-2 Bomber flatten this guy's villa with JDAM. Alright, we're burnin' up millions in ordnance and we're gettin' nowhere with this guy. So we call Clyde, and we ask him to solve our problem. Clyde develops a Kevlar thread with a high-tech ratchet made of carbon fiber. Put it in a necktie. Two days later, Mrs. Bad Guy comes home, finds Mr. Bad Guy dead on the bathroom tile, choked to death. What I'm sayin' is, just assume that this guy can hear and see everything that you're doing.

  Nick Rice : No. We got him locked away; maximum security.

  Bray : 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 cellmate 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.

  Nick Rice : So what are you sayin'? You sayin' we can't stop him?

  Bray : Walk into his cell, and put a bullet in his head. Aside from that, no, you can't stop him. If Clyde wants you dead, you're dead.

• Jonas Cantrell : [to Nick, while walking with each other to talk to reporters]  The hard part isn't making the decision. It's living with it.

• Jonas Cantrell : [while walking to meet Bray]  Clyde's government contract payments were bothering me, so I pulled some ancient strings. We're meeting someone.

  Nick Rice : Who might that be?

  Jonas Cantrell : Someone who does some really nasty shit so we can live the American Dream.

• Jonas Cantrell : [while walking to talk to reporters]  Once you make a decision, live with it and move on, this job's best asset is a short memory and don't beat yourself up over it, there's already too many people doing it.

  Nick Rice : Is this where you tell me some old fable or wise tale?

  Jonas Cantrell : Alright I got one: Marcus Aurelius hired a servant to follow behind him as he made his way around the roman town square and this servant's only job was to constantly whisper in his ear "you're only a man" when people praised him.

  Nick Rice : That's bullshit, you don't even know what the story means.

• Jonas Cantrell : [after Sarah's funeral]  She was a good kid. Did we bring all of this on ourselves?

  Nick Rice : Absolutely not.

  Jonas Cantrell : You don't actually believe that? Do you?

  Nick Rice : Absolutely.

  Jonas Cantrell : I want to read you something from my speech before we go: "We must not give into the fear. We must face the things we fear the most. We must appeal to our better angels." Is it too much?

  Nick Rice : It's just before when you asked me if we brought this on ourselves you didn't. No one did. I did. When I was young, I really wanted to change the system. I was ready to fight. I was going to be the best no matter what. You get an itch here, you get an itch there., Once you get caught up in the game, you suddenly realize the system you wanted to change actually changes you. I lost my way.

• Judge Laura Burch : [while in her office]  I can't supersede the penal code you've already got him in solitary confinement, if he gets a descent paralegal he'll be out of there by next week

  Jonas Cantrell : We just want to limit his options, give him less contact less access even if it's just rescinding his mandatory exercise for a week

  Judge Laura Burch : Under what clause?

  Nick Rice : Whatever clause you want wrap it around any legal piece of doctrine that will help you rationalize it

  Judge Laura Burch : Let me get this straight: you want me to violate his God given civil rights in the name of some murky sense of the "greater good"?

• Jonas Cantrell : [walking up to Nick in a hallway, outside the confinement cell after Nick turned down Clyde's deal in a hurry]  Hey, what are you doing?

  Nick Rice : [just existed the confinement cell]  What do you mean?

  Jonas Cantrell : [standing in front of each other]  Why'd you tell him "no"?

  Nick Rice : A mattress? He doesn't get to make those kinds of decisions.

  Jonas Cantrell : Take your ego out of it, Nick. Shelton's right - this case is shit. We need a confession. And a mattress for a murder confession? That's a pretty good deal.

  Nick Rice : He's playing us, Jonas!

  Jonas Cantrell : Well, then we will play him!