Goofy overstatement, improbable plotting and an overwrought finale.
Comment
08/31/07
Death Sentence (2007)
17 %
Reviews Counted: 103 Fresh: 17 Rotten:86 Average Rating: 4/10
Consensus:
A nonsensical plot and an absurd amount of violence make this revenge pic gratuitous and overwrought.
Rated: 18 [See Full Rating]
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Theatrical Release: 31-08-2007
Synopsis: A white-collar revenge fantasy in the vein of DEATH WISH (and based on a novel by the same author, Brian Garfield), DEATH SENTENCE ponders the nature and limits of retribution, asking if murder can ever be justified. Director James Wan (SAW) delivers a high-end exploitation film, complete... [More]
Genre: Thriller, Drama, Theatrical Release, Action, Gangs, Violence, Revenge
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Garrett Hedlund, Kelly Preston, Aisha Tyler, John Goodman
Director: James Wan
Screenwriter: Ian Mackenzie Jeffers
Producer: Ashok Amritraj, Howard Baldwin, Karen Baldwin
Composer: Charlie Clouser
Screenwriter: Ian Mackenzie Jeffers
Producer: Ashok Amritraj, Howard Baldwin, Karen Baldwin
Composer: Charlie Clouser
Reviews
Death Sentence seesaws wildly between being both brilliant and terrible, but ultimately it's worth seeing for some terrific action sequences and Bacon's committed performance.
08/31/07
Initially, it calls to mind recent events in the UK - but in truth, it's more like a new-fangled B-movie than a treatise for our troubled times.
08/31/07
By the end, many will be outraged by the sheer irresponsibility of it all. The rest will be too busy laughing.
08/31/07
Kevin Bacon fails to rescue this absurdly rickety plot as the film veers between a sentimental melodrama and violent thriller, resulting in a confused mess.
08/31/07
Sadly, the final reel exposes Wan's true colours (he directed the horror movie Saw), the vigilante machismo betraying this as an updated version of Death Wish.
08/31/07
Top Critic
Only drinking a pint of paint-stripper would leave a nastier taste in the mouth.
08/31/07
Top Critic
Finally, the costly price you pay for watching Death Sentence is the 105 minutes that you’re never going to get back and that could have been spent doing something more constructive, such as beating your head against a brick wall.
08/31/07
Top Critic
A film so uncertain about its tone and sensibilities that it just doesn't work. If Wan and screenwriter Ian Jeffers had just embraced the ridiculous retribution-based violence, it might have been more entertaining, albeit odious.
08/31/07
Top Critic
From the novelist who spawned Death Wish (1974) comes another story of vigilante justice that'll make you want to hurt someone. Anyone.
08/31/07
Top Critic
A father goes on an angry mission of revenge after his family are attacked as part of a gang initiation crime.
08/31/07
Top Critic
A gritty and gripping revenge fantasy %u2026 Kevin Bacon's talent and persona to make us sit up and take notice
04/26/08
Death Sentence is a laughably bad exercise in the pornography of sadism and the American appetite which voraciously consumes it.
02/28/08
Bacon, as usual, is very good even when he's slumming, and as a trashy B-movie redo of Death Wish the movie works well enough for a Saturday afternoon with a case of brewskies.
01/08/08
This graphically violent film suffers from cursorily developed characters whose primary function is to advance the creaky plot.
12/03/07
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Death Sentence
by: lillieknight 1/20
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