Death Sentence (2007)

The acting is *so* bad, the writing *so* idiotic, that it works much better as a spoof of a revenge flick. Bacon and Goodman, who I generally think are very good actors, were awful. It's all truly laughable. The only redeeming quality was some of the chase scenes, which were well done. But even these scenes ended ridiculously. I was truly dumbfounded.

So, its Taken with Kevin Bacon. Except this was first, why didn't this become a hit? No cool catchphrase? Maybe. But this film is not as bad as people say. Kevin Bacon gives another respected performance, and yet the effort was not recognized as it should have been. Certainly this film has its problems, but overall, it is enjoyable. Again, Kevin Bacon is the reason. Director James Wan displays his talent in a different manner than in his typical horror realm, as this action thriller does surprise, and delight. Of course the always brilliant John Goodman is always a great site to see. However, the problem I do see that may keep it from being a great film, is the messy script. The tone is off, as it doesn't know what it wants to be. And sets as your typical shooter. But it does pack some surprises, and I think the 20% on RT is unjustified. Take what you will from it, and maybe it will surprise you. Don't always listen to RT.

This film is from director James Wan, who directed Saw. It stars Kevin Bacon as a happily married father of two boys whose successful and stable life is devastated by his eldest son being brutally murdered by a gang. Bacon's character is no hard man, he is an average guy but he is pushed over the edge when he learns all he can hope for is that the killer will spend a very short couple of years in jail. He decides to drop his identification of the young guy who committed the murder allowing him to go free then follows him and kills him. Unfortunately for him the rest of the gang then seeks him out and matters escalate further.This is not a copy of Death Wish, the 1970s revenge thriller starring Charles Bronson, but is very similar in premise. There are also numerous revenge thrillers with similar ideas so this is not very original. It also is rather clichéd in many scenes of action and dialogue and in the characterisations - the scumbag psycho gang members, the family man pushed over the edge, the heartless lawyers etc. It has some quite exciting action and Bacon acts the part in his usual very capable, impressive style. The revenge aspect is something which appeals to many viewers as seeing a scumbag bad guy get their evil revisited on them is hugely satisfying. So this could have still been a really solid, entertaining thriller but I found it really badly thought through.Problems with plausibility are the main issue. We all know gangland initiations happen and innocent victims get killed and we also know criminals often get off lightly or go free due to lack of evidence. However, the victim's father causing the murderer to be caught at the scene, identifying him in a line up as the one who killed his son, his obvious ability to identify the highly distinctive cars the gang drives, the fact the gang are well known to the police etc all makes it rather unbelievable that the prosecutors feel unable to secure a conviction. There is also the assertion the gas station happened to be the only one around with no cctv and they just happened to run out of fuel immediately after a run-in with scumbags in two souped up cars and stops in a dangerous part of town. Given its position in such a bad part of town, would the gas station really not have cctv? The gas station worker got killed, would he really risk his life working there without even taking security steps of cctv? Would Bacon's character, a man who says he works in risk assessment, take his son through the worst part of town on low fuel and then stop at the gas station just after having threatening behaviour from the gang on the road? And then he allows his precious son to go in the shop. All very stupid to the point of being hard to believe. In movies a car gives one low fuel warning and people have to instantly stop to refuel. In real life you get warnings before fuel gets too low and you can drive for miles before really needing to stop. In this situation the father would surely have driven further out of the risky part of town and away from the threatening motorists he encountered.After that we have to believe that the police take no action and do not investigate the gang (who are well known to them) when the gang run through the streets and through a multi-storey car park firing guns, chasing Bacon and ending up with another gang member dead. They just question Bacon about whether he acted as a vigilante! Would there be no cctv in the streets or car park (the gang were not even disguised!) and not one terrified bystander being shot at was wanting to identify who was firing guns in their direction?! The dead gang member in the wrecked car could not be linked to the gang to confirm - along with all the other evidence - that it was the gang firing guns at people etc?Then we have to believe that when Bacon finally asks the police for help with the gang threatening his family, they do not arrest or even question the gang and just post one cop outside the property. Then even after the murder of Bacon's wife, attempted murder of him and his other son and the murder of the police officer guarding the property (in real life a cop's murder, even in violent America, is considered by police to be extremely serious) they STILL do not arrest or question the gang!!! They just give Bacon a really hard time as he lies in his hospital bed suffering extreme trauma and bereavement!!! Laughable! What made it even worse were little moments of horrendous stupidity like the nurse laughing and making a stupid, inappropriate joke to Bacon the second he opens his eyes in hospital after having had his entire family shot!!! Then the bank worker laughs and jokes he is taking the kids college funds when he takes cash out of the bank?! Nobody in this film acts how people do in real life! I found the director's earlier film Saw similarly poorly put together but with the additional negatives of grisly, torture-porn themes and worse acting. Others loved it and will love this film too. That is up to them but I think lack of logic is clearly a fact in this film.Many viewers only see some action, some excitement and some revenge and think this is a good film but I see all the flaws and think I am being extremely generous to give it 3/10. I only give that for Bacon's performance, John Goodman's cameo (as a gun dealer) and some decent, entertaining action.

I first saw this film in 2008 on a DVD. I enjoyed it. The movie was very well made. Kevin Bacon gav an excellent performance as a father seeking revenge. The movie never slows down or gets boring. John Goodman also appears in a nice cameo role. Fans of Death Wish, The Brave One, Harry Brown, The Punisher, Law abiding citizen shud definitely check this out. I was most impressed by the camera work in the chase scenes. I was rooting for the lead character from the word go and Bacon did not let me down. Death sentence was a great thrill ride from the emotional opening credits to the chilling conclusion. At times it was brutal, gory n depressing. The music by Charlie Clouser (Saw series, The collection, Resident evil extinction) was very effective at establishing the proper mood. It has some hard hitting action, fantastic foot chase, some amazing gun fights n some unique death scenes. The soundtrack is very depressing and moody and helps set the tone of the film. Its directed by James Wan (Saw, Dead silence, Insidous, Conjuring, Fast n furious 7). Nice cinematography by John R. Leonetti (Conjuring, Insidious). It's based on the book (sequel to the original Deathwish) written by Brian Garfield, the author of Death wish.