Rating: R
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Aisha Tyler, Kelly Preston, Stuart Lafferty, John Goodman
Directed by: James Wan

• Official Site

In an incredible act of violence, we are introduced to Death Sentence, a brutal film that"s so realistic I had to cringe at times. The characters are very frightening, and the plot totally unnerving. If that"s the way you like your screen action, then this film should hold you breathless.

{mosgoogle right}During the first few minutes of the film we are introduced to the Hume family, folks with aspirations and ideals like most of Americans. Nick Hume (Bacon) has the perfect job, a wonderful wife and high hopes for his son Brendan (Lafferty), who was voted the Most Valuable Player on the high school hockey team.

Driving Brendan home one night following the final hockey game of the season, Nick takes a wrong turn and ends up in the seedy part of town. When Nick pulls into a filling station for fuel, Brandon gets attacked and killed by Joe Darley (O’Leary), a fledgling gang member.

Nick later identifies Joe during a police lineup. But when he finds out that Joe will be allowed a plea bargain, Nick drops the charges. The night after Joe’s release from the lock-up, Nick unleashes his pent up rage by killing him. What he doesn’t count on, however, is the gang’s retaliation. Lead by Billy Darley (Garrett Hedlund), an extremely angry adversary, the gang’s payback turns into a ‘war'.

Death Sentence centers on revenge and the consequences derived from the act. The screenwriter Ian Jeffers shows how distressed a person can get over such a devastating attack on one’s family. His depiction of how the main character changes when overwhelming and shocking events take place is both suspenseful and disturbing.

There are flaws in the script, like Nick’s absolution comments to his comatose son in the hospital, which were totally unnecessary and do not provide the emotion they are expected to produce. Death Sentence also has a very weak performance in one of its pivotal roles that deter a credible storyline.

Detective Wallis, (Tyler) the lead police detective assigned to the case, and the police department, are totally unrealistic. Whether it’s caused by poor script writing, or some of the film lies on the cutting room floor, there was complete absence of ‘real’ police authority in the movie.

The film does contain some excellent acting on the part of Kevin Bacon. In one scene, being chased by the gang, Nick tries to make his escape by setting off car alarms in a parking garage to attract the police. When he gets cornered on the garage rooftop by one of the gang members, Bacon shows the character’s rage as a defense mechanism in a brutal fight for survival.

FINAL ANALYSIS: If you are looking for panic-driven action, Death Sentence will keep you white-knuckled throughout.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."