A Father, Maddened By Grief, Driven To Avenge His Son's Death
Written: Sep 03 '07
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Kevin Bacon, John Goodman and Aisha Tyler provide stellar performances. Lots of Action.
Cons: The storyline stretches the limits of believability.
The Bottom Line: If you are looking for an average action film, this should work. It entertained, but the only outstanding things in it are a few of the actors.
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| karoli's Full Review: Death Sentence (2007) |
I have to admit I really wanted to come out of the theater and be able to say this movie was fantastic. Regrettably, I don’t think I can do that. Death Sentence is adapted for the screen from Brian Garfield’s original novel by Ian Jeffers and is directed by James Wan.
I felt the opening established the family dynamic of Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) and his family very effectively in a short compilation of scenes from family home videos. Nick is a loving husband to Helen Hume (Kelly Preston) and the proud father of Brendan Hume (Stuart Lafferty) and Lucas Hume (Jordan Garrett). There happy world is shattered when Nick and Brendan stop for gas at an inner city gas station one cold, wet night and Nick watches helplessly as his son is violently murdered as part of an initiation ritual to a street gang. In a struggle to reach his son, Nick rips the ski mask from his son’s murders face; a face that is etched indelibly in Nick’s mind. When Nick identifies the killer in a police line-up, the prosecuting attorney advises him to identify the killer by testifying as an eyewitness in court.
At the pre-trial hearing the murderer, Joe Darley (Matt O’Leary) looks at Nick, cocks his finger , winks and pulls the trigger at Nick.; sealing his own fate more completely than any jury could have. At that moment, maddened by grief and determined to take no chances on a conviction by a jury, Nick tells the court he cannot identify the accused. The consequences of that decision drive the story from that point forward. Nick follows Joe and his gang from the courthouse. Later the same evening, Nick returns to avenge his son and starts a war he has no hope of winning.
Billy Darley (Garrett Hedlund), Joe’s brother and the gang leader, sets out along with the rest of the gang to exact their own revenge on Nick and his family. Nick only just manages to stay ahead of them until they discover his address in his abandoned briefcase. At that point, Nick hits the streets and eventually makes contact with the vile and repulsive father of Joe and Billy Darley, Bones Darley (John Goodman) who sells Nick the guns he will need to kill Billy. “I’m tellin’ ya, father to father, don’t ask me where he is…,” says Bones.
The performances by Kevin Bacon, John Goodman and Aisha Tyler were all noteworthy. Kevin Bacon has been a favorite of mine since his days as Tim McIntyre on the CBS soap opera Guiding Light and he is the reason I was really pulling for this movie. Happily, I can say that any shortcomings in this film will have to be the liability of others. Actually, I thought it was fine showcase of his range. I never imagined he could play such a convincing vigilante. John Goodman, in my eyes, has always been a big teddy bear. Not so here, He was superbly vile. When Aisha Tyler walked into the scene at the parking garage, she presented a powerful presence and continued that momentum
throughout.
I am not a huge fan of the handheld camera unless it is done with finesse. Those shots were awkward and felt too obvious. The storyline stretched the limits of believability. I really cannot imagine any Fortune 500 VP having the expertise to accomplish the things Nick Hume did. I will not deduct points for the violence; there was plenty of it for those who enjoy bloody, violent action. I am happy to say they did not use over kill in the language department. I would say there is enough to satisfy those who require foul language, but not so much that my ears fell off. I came away wishing it had been a better movie, but pleased it had not turned out as badly as it could have.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Script
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Epinions.com ID:
karoli
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Member: Karoli Teeter
Location: Perrysville, OH, USA
Reviews written: 4
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
It may sound silly, but I appreciate the luxury of making an informed choice.
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