PETER Krause, the fine actor from “Six Feet Under,” gives a one-note performance that seriously undermines “Civic Duty,” a thriller mining minimal dramatic payoff from the potentially potent subject of post-9/11 paranoia.

Laid off as an accountant and spending entirely too much time watching alarming news reports about security issues, Krause’s Terry becomes fixated on a young Muslim neighbor, Gabe (Khaled Abol Naga), with a minimalist lifestyle.

When Terry fails to convince either his wife (Kari Matchett) or an FBI agent (the very good Richard Schiff) that Gabe is building bombs, Terry goes berserk, picks up a gun and, you guessed it, takes matters into his own hands.

What ensues is crushingly predictable, and director Jeff Renfroe further drains away any possible suspense with fussy, look-at-me camerawork.

CIVIC DUTY
Running time: 98 minutes. Rated R (profanity, violence). At the Empire, the Chelsea, the Sunshine, others.