The Revenge of Revenge Cinema
Written: Sep 04 '07 (Updated Sep 05 '07)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
| Bang For The Buck |
 |
|
|
Pros: Kevin Bacon, John Goodman, some action sequences
Cons: So far fetched, script, too many digital shots, music
The Bottom Line: A movie made for teens; a shoot 'em up that reminded me of video games. Not to be taken seriously, just another end-of-the-summer movie.
|
|
|
| JiggyJay's Full Review: Death Sentence (2007) |
Death Sentence tells the story of a risk assessment manager family man who has high hopes for his soon-to-be-professional hockey player son, but on the way home from a game, simple stop at a gas station leads to his son being knifed down in an initiation gang killing. As he and his wife and neglected other son try to cope with the blow, his only thoughts are of revenge and to bring justice to those that know no justice.
After a trial that would have given his son’s killer a few years in jail, he decides to refuse to testify against him, and take the law into his own hands—becoming a dark vigilante to make those suffer that caused him so much pain, but little does his know that by killing off a member of the gang, he has started a war that will spill over into his suburban household endangering not only himself, but his remaining family members.
Kevin brings home the Bacon in this film playing the main character and, really, he’s the only reason to watch this movie. Kevin Bacon is one of the few actors that really show quality and growth in each one of his performances and Death Sentence is no different. Just from the trailers for the film I wanted to see it just for him. The role reversal of a family man to a hardened killer transitions very smoothly and to see his character deteriorate throughout the movie was very interesting to witness.
Also making a small appearance in the movie is John Goodman, who I haven’t seen really since O Brother Where Art Thou. He plays an arms dealer, who also takes money from the gang leader, Billy Darley played by Garrett Hedlund (who made a huge transition from preppie kid to ganger). Goodman’s lines are classic Goodman quality humor and even his accent really killed me.
The problems in Death Sentence appear pretty quickly in the script from the corny home movie opening sequence, to the court room scene, and the following remainder of the movie. Chances are that Kevin Bacon’s character could have easily done some of the things early on in the killing fun because of the circumstances and the level of mental shift, but to complete transform and become one without a conscience was a little far fetched as were a lot of the action sequences and how some things were handled such as the dialogue with Billy Darley and the consequences that eventually happened to him.
But at the same time, one quality aspect in Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) was the fact that despite all of the stuff he was doing, he still hesitated and you could still see the business man inside him put into different surroundings and odds. The depth in that aspect was interesting to watch onscreen, but at the same time became more unbelievable as the flick rolled on.
James Wan, the director of the hit Saw movie, helms the director’s chair in this film and I was interested to see where he would go; whether he would take a more horrifying approach, or a pure shoot ‘em up and I have to say that it’s the latter, but in a way that was unsuitable. Most of the gun fights were really ridiculous, but not in the good way like John Woo’s fare. All of the shots were digitalized including ‘bullets’ hitting walls and it was awfully distracting. But what’s worse is that almost all of the gore, save for some close ups, was all computer generated and this quickly ended the visually intense experience for me because it disconnected me for its lack of realism.
One thing I can give Wan credit for were a few action sequences that were very well done with one being exceptionally above the rest involving a parking garage. The sequence was done with a series of long takes (a la Children of Men) and the cuts were so smoothly and secretly done that you felt as if you were watching all of this unfold as a bystander. The way that the cameras moved from floor to floor of the parking garage as well as catch all the action and intensity was really well done surprisingly and involved a special crane system with the help of several camera men.
The last thing that needs to be said is about the music; or should I say the horrible music that's a mix between either heart pumping cliche action franchise music or Enya-type singing throughout many of the more melodramatic parts of the film (which there are many). Because of the complete lack of focus in the music department, it really detracted even more from me taking this movie seriously.
I haven’t seen a good revenge movie in a while since the Kill Bill movies sort of quenched the thirst to the mainstream, but after watching Death Sentence I quickly remembered why more aren’t made—they are awfully predictable. Something bad happens, the good guy does something redeeming, bad stuff happens, more consequences, killing, happy ending, etc. If the script added more ups and downs and more realism (a part of the movie has a small five speed crashing into a large van causing the van to split in half…) as well as a more organic feel to the gun shoot outs, I would have enjoyed it much more. At this stage in time, however, the only reason to watch this is to witness another great Kevin Bacon performance.
(copyright) Jason Haskins, 2007
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Studio Screening/Premiere
Film Completeness: A few glitches, but mostly complete.
Worst Part of this Film: Script
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
JiggyJay
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: Jason Haskins
Location: Portland, Oregon
Reviews written: 615
Trusted by: 293 members
About Me:Vitacost: It Will PUMP *clap* You Up!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.