A relatively young film, only released in 2007, Death Sentence features the directorial talents of James Wan, who brought us the clever, tense, and often horrifying thriller Saw. It stars Kevin Bacon, Garrett Hedlund, Aisha Tyler and John Goodman, and concerns a man taking revenge on a thuggish gang who killed his son. It's pretty much every revenge flick you've ever seen, but what Hell, lets check it out anyway.
Nick Hume (Bacon) is a mild-manner guy with, annoyingly, the perfect life. He has a well paid, executive job, a nice home, a beautiful wife, and 2 sons with ambitions and potential. Why is this annoying? Because this is basically a recipe for disaster isn't it? We know he has everything he want, which means we know he has a everything to lose, making for a pretty blatant set up.
When driving with his eldest son Brendan, his school's star hockey player, they make a fuel stop, and while in the shop, a group of dangerous reprobates turn up and Brendan is killed by one of them as a gang initiation. Wow, the beloved son of an opulent father who has the world at his feet has met an early demise, who'd have seen that coming?
If that surprise wasn't enough, get this. When Nick consults his lawyers, he discovers that the criminal would only go away for up to 5 years were he to be presented before an judge and jury. Unsatisfied with this injustice, he takes the law into his own hands, and goes after the gang himself. Unfortunately, after killing the member of the gang who murdered his family, Nick attracts the attention of the Detective who has been following his case, Jessica Wallis (Tyler), but more pertinently, the wrath of the gang leader Billy Darley (Hedlund), who declares a 'Death Sentence' on the rest of Nick's family.
When the officers assigned to protect Nick's family are killed by the gang, imagine that, he, his wife and his remaining son are attacked. His wife dies in hospital, his son is left in a coma, and Nick, after purchasing a gun from Billy's father Bones (Goodman), heads out to take out the rest of the group.
You may have noticed that I've been laying into this film quite a lot during my plot synopsis, something haven't really done before, perhaps with the exception of SBIG September. I guess I just thought I should bring up the criticisms as I went along, because the movie plays very much like a typical revenge flick. Person suffers a loss, declares revenge on the one who caused the loss, is advised to forgive and forget, takes revenge anyway. As a result the plot is paper thin, the dialogue is riddled with cliche and the outcome is completely predictable. It follows a tried-and-tested formula without bringing anything new to the table.
So what do I like about it? Well first of all you have Kevin Bacon, one of the most prolific and yet still under-appreciated actors around. Even in films as silly as Hollow Man he is always fun to watch, and this movie is no exception. He gives a convincing performance as the despondent hero, the guy who fights against all the odds.
Most of all thought, I love the action scenes. Much like other recent revenge movies such as Harry Brown and Law Abiding Citizen, it's something you've seen before, but they way it's pulled off is slick, enjoyable, and delightfully over the top. The film itself was criticised for being over-violent, and i guess it is. But watching Kevin Bacon using a revolver to blow a gang leader's fingers off, you just gotta laugh.
As Internet celebrity Noah 'Spoony' Antwiler once said, 'A movie doesn't have to be good to be awesome' and this movie is somewhat of a perfect representation of that. It's cheesy, farcical and completely gratuitous, but that, in all honesty, is what is so good about it.
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