Death Sentence

2007 - 20th Century Fox
Directed By James Wan


SYNOPSIS

When his son is senselessly killed during a gang initiation, mild-mannered Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) goes for vengeance. After killing one gang member, the gang soon discovers his identity, which has great consequences for Nick and his family. Nick's thirst for vengeance keeps him going until he can kill every last member of the gang... or die trying.

 MY THOUGHTS

The parent/family revenge genre is a very limited one plot-wise and every film invariably gets compared to the king, Death Wish, and Death Sentence is no different.

Kevin Bacon is a far more realistic 'everyman' than Charles Bronson could ever be. Bacon is much more believable an an insurance executive than Bronson's architect. It makes his transformation from average dad to Rambo much more dynamic than Bronson's, who doesn't really change at all.


You can easily sympathize and understand Nick Hume's pain and desire for revenge. But by the end Bacon's character goes too far and even shaves his head Taxi Driver-style before his final assault. Nick winds up becoming no better than his foes. Kevin Bacon handles both sides of the role equally well and delivers one of his better performances.

The film creates a great balance between the two families.The ordinary, loving, suburban Humes and the dark, grimy, inner city Darleys. The first gang member killed by Bacon happens to be the younger brother of leader Billy Darley. He feels as much affection for his little brother as Nick Hume feels for his dead son. The only person Billy Darley answers to his father, Bones, who employs his gang. There is no love lost between the two and the Billy/Bones relationship is the exact opposite of the Humes. Garrett Hedlund (as Billy) and John Goodman (as Bones) are both amazing in their dark and often frightening portrayals.

Action rules the film and it's loaded with many exciting battles and chases. The most memorable is the gang's first attack on Hume. He's walking down the city street and they wind up chasing him nonstop through back alleys, a couple grimy buildings and finally through a parking garage. The camera is always moving, following or leading the characters through the chase which brings a lot of immediacy to the scene and you feel you're right there in the middle of it. The whole garage sequence is seemingly done in one shot. The camera cleverly moves around the levels of the garage via cranes to achieve this.
The violence is very real,brutal, and very bloody with limbs getting blown off. Not for the squeamish!


Significant plot holes and gaps in logic do weigh the film down.
There's enough probably cause to arrest Bacon's character for killing the first gang member, not to mention the second but the police do nothing through most of the film. The gangbanger was killed just hours after he was released from custody because Bacon refused to testify against him. That would be enough to raise some suspicions but none are raised.

Bacon escapes from his police-guarded room at a hospital, which the police catch on after a few minutes. The most logical place for the cops to search would be his home. That's where he goes and seemingly spends significant time (maybe overnight) without any visits from the cops. He then drives around in his own car and is not stopped by officers, who would no doubt by then have an APB out on him for his arrest.

Bones chides the gang for getting the murder of Hume's son in the papers. They later bemoan that when one of them dies, they never get a mention in print. The gang massacres the Hume family and kills a few cops in their quiet suburban neighborhood. Definitely a front page story... but Nick shows up later and they're shocked he's still alive. Maybe they canceled their subscription?
These issues (and others) are so prominent that they can pull you out of the story if you let them.

Despite many flaws, Death Sentence is better than your average revenge-film and filled with exciting and brutal action.