Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 09/09/2008 Run time: 110 minutes Rating: R

Amazon.com:
James Wan (Saw) brings the ultra-violence to this gritty story of a suburban father (Kevin Bacon) who discovers the consequences of revenge after his son is murdered. The perpetrators of this senseless killing are a multi-ethnic (and highly visible) gang of drug dealers and cutthroats led by the psychotic Billy Darley (Garrett Hedlund); when the case is thrown out on a technicality, Bacon takes a page from Charles Bronson's book (no surprise, as this is based on author Brian Garfield's 1975 follow-up to Death Wish) and pursues a vigilante course to avenge his boy. Things do not go according to Bacon's plan, which cues a series of frantic and well-executed action set pieces, most notably a parking structure chase that unfolds in a nearly unbroken take. Death Sentence breaks no new ground in the action-thriller department, and its characters and dialogue are nearly indistinguishable from any violent crime movie of the last few decades (in its weakest moments, it resembles grindhouse fare like The Exterminator); however, Bacon is excellent (as always) as the mild-mannered architect who discovers his inner killer the hard way, and Wan's knack for screen mayhem and unsettling atmosphere are well used here. The DVD includes both the theatrical version and an unrated cut (which offers 10 additional minutes), as well as two making-of featurettes that originally aired on the Fox Movie Channel, and several webisodes that focus on director Wan, his cast, and the film's elaborate stunts and fight scenes. -- Paul Gaita

Beyond Death Sentence

More Revenge Movies

More from Kevin Bacon

More from Fox

Rating : - Kevin Bacon was brilliant in an other wise average flick
I'm a huge fan of vigilante movies those are my guilty pleasures; even some of the weaker ones of the genre I cannot help, but enjoy. I like the ones where the vigilante is your average person I always find those to work the best and they also have a good what if? If you lost a loved one to a senseless and violent act could you bring yourself to kill the people responsible?

Death Sentence is one of the most frustrating movies I have ever seen; the problem is the concept is great and it has all the makings of a great movie, but somewhere along the way something is just missing. What makes it so frustrating is there are some really brilliant moments, but too many average moments that just don't seem to work.

The interesting aspect of the movie is a little more time is spent with the villains. But the problem is they aren't very interesting. They are the typical villains only difference is we spend more time with them than most movies like this and we see their side of wanting to avenge the loss of their own. Despite spending more time with them they are the typical villains with no depth to the characters. Again they are just like every villain in this type of movie only more screen time. Having more screen time doesn't mean anything if you fail to do anything with them. It's funny the Hollywood way of villains is shave their head and throw some tattoos on their neck and face and we are meant to fear them, but it doesn't work.

Death Sentence is bound to be compared to Death Wish, but every vigilante movie will be compared to it. Death Wish can probably be seen as the holy grail of revenge movies. Every revenge movie since the release of Death Wish in 1974 has been inspired by it. Even if that movie is based on a book, comic or even a remake that came before Death Wish, most revenge flicks follow the format of Death Wish. But let's face it Death Wish is probably the greatest vigilante movie ever made.

This time around there is actually a good reason for this being like Death Wish. Death Sentence is based off a novel written by Brian Garfield who wrote the novel for Death Wish, the novel Death Sentence was based off is actually the follow up to Death Wish. The Death Wish franchise though went in a very different direction, but this movie is based off a novel that was the sequel to the original Death Wish novel so they are bound to have a few things in common.

Ian Jeffers wrote the screenplay and overall it was very uneven. While by no means was it poorly written, but there were problems. For starters the decision Nick Hume played brilliantly by Kevin Bacon to get revenge on the person who killed his son just came to easy. While there was a brief moment of doubt he just comes to that decision way too easy. I think it should have been more of a build up. Ok granted by doing that it might be a little too much like Death Wish, but Nick comes to his decision a little too easy.

Again we come back to the villains they really don't work. There really was no point is showing their side. They murdered an innocent kid in cold blood. It was a senseless act of violence therefore there is no sympathy for them. But more importantly they just aren't interesting. In my opinion they failed to get any emotion out of me. But the one good thing about that story is it shows how violence escalates. Nick's sense of loss drives him to get revenge and the sense of loss the gang feels drives them to avenge their loss. It's very much a double edge sword; what makes this movie stand-out also sort of hurts it.

The characters just aren't well developed outside of Kevin Bacon's character; the rest are just very bland and honestly aren't very likeable and it's kind of hard to feel sympathy for any of the victims when there is no emotional attachment to any of them. Overall I wouldn't say the script by Ian Jeffers was bad or anything, but it very much lacks with weak characters and certain aspects not fully developed.

Director James Wan who made a name for himself with Saw has flashes of great filmmaking, but too many moments where his scenes just lack the emotion, urgency and the tension. But when Wan gets it right does he ever deliver. There were some slight problems with the script, but any problem could have been fixed with the right directing, but again Wan is very uneven. As I stated prior to Nick getting his revenge on the man that killed his son there is some doubt, but the scene just falls a bit flat and lacked the emotion. Though afterwards Nick does feel some guilt and Wan handles that very well. The attack on Nick's family was a turning point and should have been a very powerful scene, but there is just something missing there. From an emotional side the scene just falls a little flat and that pretty much sums up most of the movie.

But there is a lot of good to Death Sentence it has a great gritty look and the violence is really brutal and not done in an entertaining way. While we the audience can root for Nick he is still taking lives even if it's for the right reason he's still murdering people and the violence is shown as the ugly act that it is. All these scenes I have to give James Wan a lot of credit on he really nails it. But like I said some scenes just lack emotion and it just felt as if more really could have been done. There were these great and powerful and deep moments that were set up and very little pay off. I do think James Wan is a director with a lot of potential. Like I said a lot of his scenes lack in some areas, but when he gets it right he delivers. There is potential though for Wan to be an excellent filmmaker, but with Death Sentence he made a very uneven movie.

The influences here are quite obvious from Death Wish to Taxi Driver and William Lustig's Vigilante. The problem also with Wan's directing is he relies too much on these films rather than injecting his own style. While a lot will compare this to Death Wish, Death Sentence actually reminds me a lot more of Vigilante.

The saving grace of Death Sentence is Kevin Bacon. He delivers what might just be the finest performance of his career. I've always liked Kevin Bacon, but here his performance was mind blowing. He brings so much to the role and while I had respect for him as an actor prior to this I have now gained even more respect for the guy. He had such power on camera and he really draws you in, while his director might have dropped the ball in a few scenes, Bacon though is top notch and really gives a great performance. I would say Kevin Bacon's performance is one of my favorites of 2007; the only performance I enjoyed more from the year was Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises.

The final act to Death Sentence is excellent. It's suspenseful, gritty, violent and unrelenting. While it does owe a lot to Taxi Driver, these are the scenes where James Wan really shows a lot of potential. Even if what came before was slightly uneven the final act very much delivers and gets the job done. Again no doubt it owes a lot to Taxi Driver, but the final act is still very well done and that again is what makes this so frustrating since there really was a lot of potential here.

Overall Death Sentence is a very mixed bag, while there are many solid moments there are too many that lack the emotion needed. The saving grace was Kevin Bacon and is the main reason to check this one out.