Death Sentence

For what it’s worth...a movie review

My scale: 1 through 10; 1 being Ishtar and 10 being Gone With The

in.tense (in tens’) adj. Strained to the utmost, earnest, zealous, very strong, violent, extreme, vivid, firm purpose, strong emotion. Those are just some of the definitions Webster gives for intense. Not even close!

Nick Hume helplessly watches as his son, Brendon, is murdered in a random gang initiation and his life changes. That, too, is an understatement. The next 90 minutes takes you places you don’t think you could ever go. Or could you...

Re.venge (ri venj’) To inflict damage, injury, punishment in return, avenge, a chance to retaliate or get satisfaction. Kevin Bacon as Nick Hume is out for so much more than revenge. Kevin is brilliant as a mild mannered father of two sons who takes on the gang responsible for the murder of his oldest son, Brendon, played by Stuart Lafferty. Kelly Preston is equally at her best as the grief stricken wife, Helen.
John Goodman as Bones Darley will surprise you as the father of one of the gang members. Truly evil and just a tiny bit of comedy relief, much needed in this rough film.

This is a good film. It will make you think and really wonder just how far you would go to protect your family. Director James Wan did something I appreciated; the film was shot a little under color. It made the necessary violence not so vivid. It is a truly violent film, but the filming technique made it tolerable for us who aren’t really into such things! I’m not sure I really knew the ‘F’ word had quite so many applications as it apparently does, but I assure you that each and every one was covered in this movie! At one point you will think the end of the film has come, sadly, to a close. Not so much. It goes on and comes to the only appropriate end possible.

We saw this Death Sentence because there was nothing else we thought worth seeing. It was worth it. I give this piece an 8.5, as there were some flaws in the screenplay and one bit of corny dialog. But it is worth seeing.