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Death Sentence
(R)

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Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) consoles his wife Helen (Kelly Preston) after getting some tragic news.
Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) is a sad-eyed, middle-class Everyman and office drone who loves his wife (Kelly Preston) and two sons. When a pack of tattooed gang members ravages his family, Nick takes the law into his own hands and, in the end, becomes every bit as brutal as the "animals" he slaughters.

Bad dad Bones (John Goodman) speaks with his gang-member son (Garrett Hedlund).
Based on a Brian Garfield novel written as a sequel to his novel Death Wish, the movie is directed by Saw maestro James Wan, who really only flexes his muscles during the eruptions of action, including a standout chase and pursuit that winds up in a parking garage. Whenever the script's twists and turns call for a genuine emotional connection, Wan goes for gooey, manipulative clichés while the music score goes all Lifetime Original Movie scored by Enya. When Death Sentence starts moralizing, and it does, often, you might want to hit the concession stand and stay there until the pontificating blows over.

Many theories could be launched to explain the current appeal of such vigilante-revenge thrillers: the deep emotional scars of 9/11; the rage and powerlessness felt by our involvement in the Middle East. Regardless, the latter-day crop -- of which Death Sentence is an example -- helps let off steam the way 1970s movies like Straw Dogs, Taxi Driver and the five Death Wish flicks did for audiences troubled by the Vietnam War and the specter of drugs, crime and chaos overtaking the city streets. At its goofy best, Death Sentence works now and then as a throwback to the days of grindhouses and drive-ins but it also wants to be smart, meaningful and emotionally resonant like a Sam Peckinpah or early Martin Scorsese movie.


Lead thug Billy Darley (Garrett Hedlund) runs with a vicious gang.
Wan just isn't ready to run with the big dogs. As absurd and humorless as the movie is, Bacon is such a good actor that he almost manages to single-handedly sell its idiocies and lapses of logic, which are frequent and, often, hilarious. John Goodman, as the gun-selling father of two of the gang-bangers, leaves no piece of scenery un-chewed but at least seems to know that he's up the creek so he may as well have fun paddling.

By Stephen Rebello

photo credit: James Bridges/™&©2007 HPE Rights, Inc. All rights reserved.

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