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James Wan's revenge thriller "Death Sentence" is a loose (that is, thematic) adaptation of Brian Garfield's 1975 novel of the same name, which itself was a sequel to his earlier novel - Death Wish (made famous through Charles Bronson's steely cinematic portrayal). Wan's 2007 update sees Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) witness the slaughter of his teenage son before his very eyes, and feeling cheated out of justice by the legal system, decides to take the law into his own hands, hands that very quickly become stained with blood.
Anyone who has the slightest knowledge of this project will likely be privy to the "spoiler" that is the death of Hume's son, and even if you aren't aware, Wan waits no more than ten minutes before offing the promising hockey star in a shockingly violent manner, a manner which, considering the content of the Saw films, shouldn't have been shocking, but is made so due to the change of scenery (a petrol station rather than a grotty bathroom). One can argue that writing Hume's son as a promising athlete is something of a superfluous addition, intended to only further the tragedy, but it does at times seem to have a purpose, particularly in relation to exploring Hume's relationship with his other, younger son, a dynamic that unfortunately isn't explored in anywhere near enough detail.
I think it would be unfair to attest that every film on Earth is attempting to impose or espouse some sort of ideology or set of societal values upon us, but at the same time, what Death Sentence is saying about both the legal system and us as people is somewhat muddling. Hume believes his son's murderer should be sent to prison for life (in the literal, non-legal sense, and I can't far disagree with him), and is disgusted when he discovers that a few years is the most that he can hope for. At this very early point in the film, at which Hume decides to withdraw his testimony to exact "street justice" against the young man concerned, the message seems to be "the legal system can fail, so do something about it", but as the film progresses, this message becomes turned on its head, often in over-apparent fashion (as I will detail later).
Hume subsequently goes about delivering his own brand of justice against the assailant, and as can be expected, all this does is incite yet another wave of brutal violence. The brother of the man Hume is after soon enough comes into the fold, wanting revenge against Hume for Hume's own revenge against this man, and so Death Sentence very quickly becomes a game of back-and-forth, where one death warrants another, and ultimately, everyone, whether they live or die, is going to meet an unhappy end. Billy, the leader of the gang, wants to kill Hume's wife (Kelly Preston) and son, and Hume's ultimate goal is to prevent this, and whilst I can respect that a man suffering with grief will not be thinking clearly, one would like to think he would know better than to start a war of death against a gang and not expect recourse.
The fact that this sea-saw battle is able to continue for such a prolonged period is beyond ridiculous. Realistically speaking, Hume should have been dead by the film's 40th minute, given how he is beset upon from all sides by a number of gang members, and through nothing but great luck is able to elude them. Such seems to be the recurrent motif through the set pieces of this film - Hume is Superman-like at times, dodging bullets and cannonball-like shotgun blasts from baddies with horrific aim, and furthermore, delves into moments of Bronson-like baddassery that seem to almost come from nowhere (considering Hume's job is a cushy office gig as a risk assessment expert).
As if fending off an army of gangsters wasn't enough, Hume is being pursued by Detective Wallis (Aisha Tyler) who takes longer than she should to realise that Hume is the man leaving the bodies of gangsters all over the place. Naturally, as an officer herself, Wallis is an exponent of the values that justice is right, and vigilantes upset the social balance, espousing these values with no grey area. As such, Wallis seems something of a robotic, unreal character, and one would have to ask - what if her son were killed? That's not to say I was hoping for Wallis to be some vengeance-bent cop herself, but for her to show a tad of sympathy for Hume rather than scold him for murdering those likely better off dead anyway would have been nice.
Perhaps the real treat of Death Sentence is a tense chase through a parking lot, a chase which, whilst perhaps aided by CGI compositing, at least presented the illusion of a single-shot scene, lasting at least two or three minutes, as Hume hides from a large number of gang members closing in on him, resulting in a violent encounter, and a spectacular set piece involving a car, and, well, the parking lot roof. This scene alone at least exhibits Wan's growth as a director - as much as I enjoyed Saw, it's nice to see a far more sedate, less-hyperactive filmmaking style.
Hume, in his search for as much weaponry and ammunition as possible, encounters Bones Darley (John Goodman), a ridiculous-looking, eccentric, yet frequently amusing character in his own right. The lines Goodman is given are among the best in the film, such as proclaiming that one of his guns will deliver "head removal guaranteed". The majority of Goodman's scenes are rather funny, whether intentionally or not, and more to the point, once he puts on his pair of ludicrous glasses, these scenes lose any measure of tension that might have been creeping in. This isn't necessarily to the film's detriment, in that Goodman made the film considerably more entertaining, and he did well with what he was given.
The setup for the final act is very clear - Hume rather crudely shaves his head (an act Bacon insisted on doing rather than wearing a bald cap), and donning his son's leather jacket, resembles a Sex Pistols tribute band reject as he heads into the final battle, carrying more weapons and ammunition than a small army. The action pieces from here range from sick (where a man's leg is unceremoniously blown clean off) to beyond insane (bisecting a van with a car), and nearly throughout, Bacon's character sifts through without a scratch. As the film arrives at its sure-to-be-bloody showdown, be it not the fault of Wan but moreso his screenwriter, Ian Jeffers, we are informed in very heavy-handed fashion that Hume, in his quest for vengeance, has now become what he attempted to stop. The sheer postulation of this idea left an excruciatingly sour taste in my mouth, and considering that Hume is not like these men in most other aspects, I found that it almost pigeon-holed Bacon's character. Yes, in one's quest for vengeance they may have to get their hands dirty and sink to the level of their adversary, but these people, such as Hume, still retain those human elements that these animalistic grunts do not. What I at least agreed with, however, was that one man attempting vengeance for his own son's murder, is essentially just murdering another man's son, whether that man is as compassionate or loving a father as Hume or not.
Perhaps Death Sentence is telling us that you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't - the justice system will go easy on animals who should by all rights spend life behind bars, and taking the law into your own hands will likely cause you to lose more than you gain. It's quite a depressing picture to paint, and whilst I doubt the script was ever written with this consideration in mind, it's a nice idea. Unfortunately, one hasn't much time to ponder on it, as Detective Wallis creeps back on-screen in the film's final moments with a remark to suggest "I told you so" with all the subtlety of a "The More You Know" public service announcement.
All in all, Death Sentence is a confused moral piece that has an intriguing premise, but is mired by its straight-forwardness in tackling a contentious issue. The trailer may ask us "How far would you go to protect your family?", but the film itself seems to ask "How far would you go to endanger your family, destroying your family unit?". Bacon, something of an underrated and under-awarded actor, is a well-versed lead, and most of his foibles can be attributed to the script rather than Bacon's acting prowess, and Goodman's performance is likewise a gem that could well have been saved for better films. The film's logline may aswell have read "invincible Kevin Bacon battles endless waves of witless thugs", but to this effect, the film is loud, abrasive, and often very violent, and so Death Sentence will certainly find itself an audience. If anything, this film exhibits Wan's growth as a filmmaker, and to that point, it was infinitely more enjoyable than his horrendously awful Dead Silence.
Thanks for reading,
Reefer
Anyone who has the slightest knowledge of this project will likely be privy to the "spoiler" that is the death of Hume's son, and even if you aren't aware, Wan waits no more than ten minutes before offing the promising hockey star in a shockingly violent manner, a manner which, considering the content of the Saw films, shouldn't have been shocking, but is made so due to the change of scenery (a petrol station rather than a grotty bathroom). One can argue that writing Hume's son as a promising athlete is something of a superfluous addition, intended to only further the tragedy, but it does at times seem to have a purpose, particularly in relation to exploring Hume's relationship with his other, younger son, a dynamic that unfortunately isn't explored in anywhere near enough detail.
I think it would be unfair to attest that every film on Earth is attempting to impose or espouse some sort of ideology or set of societal values upon us, but at the same time, what Death Sentence is saying about both the legal system and us as people is somewhat muddling. Hume believes his son's murderer should be sent to prison for life (in the literal, non-legal sense, and I can't far disagree with him), and is disgusted when he discovers that a few years is the most that he can hope for. At this very early point in the film, at which Hume decides to withdraw his testimony to exact "street justice" against the young man concerned, the message seems to be "the legal system can fail, so do something about it", but as the film progresses, this message becomes turned on its head, often in over-apparent fashion (as I will detail later).
Hume subsequently goes about delivering his own brand of justice against the assailant, and as can be expected, all this does is incite yet another wave of brutal violence. The brother of the man Hume is after soon enough comes into the fold, wanting revenge against Hume for Hume's own revenge against this man, and so Death Sentence very quickly becomes a game of back-and-forth, where one death warrants another, and ultimately, everyone, whether they live or die, is going to meet an unhappy end. Billy, the leader of the gang, wants to kill Hume's wife (Kelly Preston) and son, and Hume's ultimate goal is to prevent this, and whilst I can respect that a man suffering with grief will not be thinking clearly, one would like to think he would know better than to start a war of death against a gang and not expect recourse.
The fact that this sea-saw battle is able to continue for such a prolonged period is beyond ridiculous. Realistically speaking, Hume should have been dead by the film's 40th minute, given how he is beset upon from all sides by a number of gang members, and through nothing but great luck is able to elude them. Such seems to be the recurrent motif through the set pieces of this film - Hume is Superman-like at times, dodging bullets and cannonball-like shotgun blasts from baddies with horrific aim, and furthermore, delves into moments of Bronson-like baddassery that seem to almost come from nowhere (considering Hume's job is a cushy office gig as a risk assessment expert).
As if fending off an army of gangsters wasn't enough, Hume is being pursued by Detective Wallis (Aisha Tyler) who takes longer than she should to realise that Hume is the man leaving the bodies of gangsters all over the place. Naturally, as an officer herself, Wallis is an exponent of the values that justice is right, and vigilantes upset the social balance, espousing these values with no grey area. As such, Wallis seems something of a robotic, unreal character, and one would have to ask - what if her son were killed? That's not to say I was hoping for Wallis to be some vengeance-bent cop herself, but for her to show a tad of sympathy for Hume rather than scold him for murdering those likely better off dead anyway would have been nice.
Perhaps the real treat of Death Sentence is a tense chase through a parking lot, a chase which, whilst perhaps aided by CGI compositing, at least presented the illusion of a single-shot scene, lasting at least two or three minutes, as Hume hides from a large number of gang members closing in on him, resulting in a violent encounter, and a spectacular set piece involving a car, and, well, the parking lot roof. This scene alone at least exhibits Wan's growth as a director - as much as I enjoyed Saw, it's nice to see a far more sedate, less-hyperactive filmmaking style.
Hume, in his search for as much weaponry and ammunition as possible, encounters Bones Darley (John Goodman), a ridiculous-looking, eccentric, yet frequently amusing character in his own right. The lines Goodman is given are among the best in the film, such as proclaiming that one of his guns will deliver "head removal guaranteed". The majority of Goodman's scenes are rather funny, whether intentionally or not, and more to the point, once he puts on his pair of ludicrous glasses, these scenes lose any measure of tension that might have been creeping in. This isn't necessarily to the film's detriment, in that Goodman made the film considerably more entertaining, and he did well with what he was given.
The setup for the final act is very clear - Hume rather crudely shaves his head (an act Bacon insisted on doing rather than wearing a bald cap), and donning his son's leather jacket, resembles a Sex Pistols tribute band reject as he heads into the final battle, carrying more weapons and ammunition than a small army. The action pieces from here range from sick (where a man's leg is unceremoniously blown clean off) to beyond insane (bisecting a van with a car), and nearly throughout, Bacon's character sifts through without a scratch. As the film arrives at its sure-to-be-bloody showdown, be it not the fault of Wan but moreso his screenwriter, Ian Jeffers, we are informed in very heavy-handed fashion that Hume, in his quest for vengeance, has now become what he attempted to stop. The sheer postulation of this idea left an excruciatingly sour taste in my mouth, and considering that Hume is not like these men in most other aspects, I found that it almost pigeon-holed Bacon's character. Yes, in one's quest for vengeance they may have to get their hands dirty and sink to the level of their adversary, but these people, such as Hume, still retain those human elements that these animalistic grunts do not. What I at least agreed with, however, was that one man attempting vengeance for his own son's murder, is essentially just murdering another man's son, whether that man is as compassionate or loving a father as Hume or not.
Perhaps Death Sentence is telling us that you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't - the justice system will go easy on animals who should by all rights spend life behind bars, and taking the law into your own hands will likely cause you to lose more than you gain. It's quite a depressing picture to paint, and whilst I doubt the script was ever written with this consideration in mind, it's a nice idea. Unfortunately, one hasn't much time to ponder on it, as Detective Wallis creeps back on-screen in the film's final moments with a remark to suggest "I told you so" with all the subtlety of a "The More You Know" public service announcement.
All in all, Death Sentence is a confused moral piece that has an intriguing premise, but is mired by its straight-forwardness in tackling a contentious issue. The trailer may ask us "How far would you go to protect your family?", but the film itself seems to ask "How far would you go to endanger your family, destroying your family unit?". Bacon, something of an underrated and under-awarded actor, is a well-versed lead, and most of his foibles can be attributed to the script rather than Bacon's acting prowess, and Goodman's performance is likewise a gem that could well have been saved for better films. The film's logline may aswell have read "invincible Kevin Bacon battles endless waves of witless thugs", but to this effect, the film is loud, abrasive, and often very violent, and so Death Sentence will certainly find itself an audience. If anything, this film exhibits Wan's growth as a filmmaker, and to that point, it was infinitely more enjoyable than his horrendously awful Dead Silence.
Thanks for reading,
Reefer
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James Wan's revenge thriller "Death Sentence" is a loose (that is, thematic) adaptation of Brian Garfield's 1975 novel of the same name, which itself was a sequel to his earlier novel - Death Wish (made famous through Charles Bronson's steely cinematic portrayal). Wan's 2007 update sees Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) witness the slaughter of his teenage son before his very eyes, and feeling cheated out of justice by the legal system, decides to take the law into his own hands, hands that very quickly become stained with blood.
Anyone who has the slightest knowledge of this project will likely be privy to the "spoiler" that is the death of Hume's son, and even if you aren't aware, Wan waits no more than ten minutes before offing the promising hockey star in a shockingly violent manner, a manner which, considering the content of the Saw films, shouldn't have been shocking, but is made so due to the change of scenery (a petrol station rather than a grotty bathroom). One can argue that writing Hume's son as a promising athlete is something of a superfluous addition, intended to only further the tragedy, but it does at times seem to have a purpose, particularly in relation to exploring Hume's relationship with his other, younger son, a dynamic that unfortunately isn't explored in anywhere near enough detail.
I think it would be unfair to attest that every film on Earth is attempting to impose or espouse some sort of ideology or set of societal values upon us, but at the same time, what Death Sentence is saying about both the legal system and us as people is somewhat muddling. Hume believes his son's murderer should be sent to prison for life (in the literal, non-legal sense, and I can't far disagree with him), and is disgusted when he discovers that a few years is the most that he can hope for. At this very early point in the film, at which Hume decides to withdraw his testimony to exact "street justice" against the young man concerned, the message seems to be "the legal system can fail, so do something about it", but as the film progresses, this message becomes turned on its head, often in over-apparent fashion (as I will detail later).
Hume subsequently goes about delivering his own brand of justice against the assailant, and as can be expected, all this does is incite yet another wave of brutal violence. The brother of the man Hume is after soon enough comes into the fold, wanting revenge against Hume for Hume's own revenge against this man, and so Death Sentence very quickly becomes a game of back-and-forth, where one death warrants another, and ultimately, everyone, whether they live or die, is going to meet an unhappy end. Billy, the leader of the gang, wants to kill Hume's wife (Kelly Preston) and son, and Hume's ultimate goal is to prevent this, and whilst I can respect that a man suffering with grief will not be thinking clearly, one would like to think he would know better than to start a war of death against a gang and not expect recourse.
The fact that this sea-saw battle is able to continue for such a prolonged period is beyond ridiculous. Realistically speaking, Hume should have been dead by the film's 40th minute, given how he is beset upon from all sides by a number of gang members, and through nothing but great luck is able to elude them. Such seems to be the recurrent motif through the set pieces of this film - Hume is Superman-like at times, dodging bullets and cannonball-like shotgun blasts from baddies with horrific aim, and furthermore, delves into moments of Bronson-like baddassery that seem to almost come from nowhere (considering Hume's job is a cushy office gig as a risk assessment expert).
As if fending off an army of gangsters wasn't enough, Hume is being pursued by Detective Wallis (Aisha Tyler) who takes longer than she should to realise that Hume is the man leaving the bodies of gangsters all over the place. Naturally, as an officer herself, Wallis is an exponent of the values that justice is right, and vigilantes upset the social balance, espousing these values with no grey area. As such, Wallis seems something of a robotic, unreal character, and one would have to ask - what if her son were killed? That's not to say I was hoping for Wallis to be some vengeance-bent cop herself, but for her to show a tad of sympathy for Hume rather than scold him for murdering those likely better off dead anyway would have been nice.
Perhaps the real treat of Death Sentence is a tense chase through a parking lot, a chase which, whilst perhaps aided by CGI compositing, at least presented the illusion of a single-shot scene, lasting at least two or three minutes, as Hume hides from a large number of gang members closing in on him, resulting in a violent encounter, and a spectacular set piece involving a car, and, well, the parking lot roof. This scene alone at least exhibits Wan's growth as a director - as much as I enjoyed Saw, it's nice to see a far more sedate, less-hyperactive filmmaking style.
Hume, in his search for as much weaponry and ammunition as possible, encounters Bones Darley (John Goodman), a ridiculous-looking, eccentric, yet frequently amusing character in his own right. The lines Goodman is given are among the best in the film, such as proclaiming that one of his guns will deliver "head removal guaranteed". The majority of Goodman's scenes are rather funny, whether intentionally or not, and more to the point, once he puts on his pair of ludicrous glasses, these scenes lose any measure of tension that might have been creeping in. This isn't necessarily to the film's detriment, in that Goodman made the film considerably more entertaining, and he did well with what he was given.
The setup for the final act is very clear - Hume rather crudely shaves his head (an act Bacon insisted on doing rather than wearing a bald cap), and donning his son's leather jacket, resembles a Sex Pistols tribute band reject as he heads into the final battle, carrying more weapons and ammunition than a small army. The action pieces from here range from sick (where a man's leg is unceremoniously blown clean off) to beyond insane (bisecting a van with a car), and nearly throughout, Bacon's character sifts through without a scratch. As the film arrives at its sure-to-be-bloody showdown, be it not the fault of Wan but moreso his screenwriter, Ian Jeffers, we are informed in very heavy-handed fashion that Hume, in his quest for vengeance, has now become what he attempted to stop. The sheer postulation of this idea left an excruciatingly sour taste in my mouth, and considering that Hume is not like these men in most other aspects, I found that it almost pigeon-holed Bacon's character. Yes, in one's quest for vengeance they may have to get their hands dirty and sink to the level of their adversary, but these people, such as Hume, still retain those human elements that these animalistic grunts do not. What I at least agreed with, however, was that one man attempting vengeance for his own son's murder, is essentially just murdering another man's son, whether that man is as compassionate or loving a father as Hume or not.
Perhaps Death Sentence is telling us that you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't - the justice system will go easy on animals who should by all rights spend life behind bars, and taking the law into your own hands will likely cause you to lose more than you gain. It's quite a depressing picture to paint, and whilst I doubt the script was ever written with this consideration in mind, it's a nice idea. Unfortunately, one hasn't much time to ponder on it, as Detective Wallis creeps back on-screen in the film's final moments with a remark to suggest "I told you so" with all the subtlety of a "The More You Know" public service announcement.
All in all, Death Sentence is a confused moral piece that has an intriguing premise, but is mired by its straight-forwardness in tackling a contentious issue. The trailer may ask us "How far would you go to protect your family?", but the film itself seems to ask "How far would you go to endanger your family, destroying your family unit?". Bacon, something of an underrated and under-awarded actor, is a well-versed lead, and most of his foibles can be attributed to the script rather than Bacon's acting prowess, and Goodman's performance is likewise a gem that could well have been saved for better films. The film's logline may aswell have read "invincible Kevin Bacon battles endless waves of witless thugs", but to this effect, the film is loud, abrasive, and often very violent, and so Death Sentence will certainly find itself an audience. If anything, this film exhibits Wan's growth as a filmmaker, and to that point, it was infinitely more enjoyable than his horrendously awful Dead Silence.
Thanks for reading,
Reefer
Anyone who has the slightest knowledge of this project will likely be privy to the "spoiler" that is the death of Hume's son, and even if you aren't aware, Wan waits no more than ten minutes before offing the promising hockey star in a shockingly violent manner, a manner which, considering the content of the Saw films, shouldn't have been shocking, but is made so due to the change of scenery (a petrol station rather than a grotty bathroom). One can argue that writing Hume's son as a promising athlete is something of a superfluous addition, intended to only further the tragedy, but it does at times seem to have a purpose, particularly in relation to exploring Hume's relationship with his other, younger son, a dynamic that unfortunately isn't explored in anywhere near enough detail.
I think it would be unfair to attest that every film on Earth is attempting to impose or espouse some sort of ideology or set of societal values upon us, but at the same time, what Death Sentence is saying about both the legal system and us as people is somewhat muddling. Hume believes his son's murderer should be sent to prison for life (in the literal, non-legal sense, and I can't far disagree with him), and is disgusted when he discovers that a few years is the most that he can hope for. At this very early point in the film, at which Hume decides to withdraw his testimony to exact "street justice" against the young man concerned, the message seems to be "the legal system can fail, so do something about it", but as the film progresses, this message becomes turned on its head, often in over-apparent fashion (as I will detail later).
Hume subsequently goes about delivering his own brand of justice against the assailant, and as can be expected, all this does is incite yet another wave of brutal violence. The brother of the man Hume is after soon enough comes into the fold, wanting revenge against Hume for Hume's own revenge against this man, and so Death Sentence very quickly becomes a game of back-and-forth, where one death warrants another, and ultimately, everyone, whether they live or die, is going to meet an unhappy end. Billy, the leader of the gang, wants to kill Hume's wife (Kelly Preston) and son, and Hume's ultimate goal is to prevent this, and whilst I can respect that a man suffering with grief will not be thinking clearly, one would like to think he would know better than to start a war of death against a gang and not expect recourse.
The fact that this sea-saw battle is able to continue for such a prolonged period is beyond ridiculous. Realistically speaking, Hume should have been dead by the film's 40th minute, given how he is beset upon from all sides by a number of gang members, and through nothing but great luck is able to elude them. Such seems to be the recurrent motif through the set pieces of this film - Hume is Superman-like at times, dodging bullets and cannonball-like shotgun blasts from baddies with horrific aim, and furthermore, delves into moments of Bronson-like baddassery that seem to almost come from nowhere (considering Hume's job is a cushy office gig as a risk assessment expert).
As if fending off an army of gangsters wasn't enough, Hume is being pursued by Detective Wallis (Aisha Tyler) who takes longer than she should to realise that Hume is the man leaving the bodies of gangsters all over the place. Naturally, as an officer herself, Wallis is an exponent of the values that justice is right, and vigilantes upset the social balance, espousing these values with no grey area. As such, Wallis seems something of a robotic, unreal character, and one would have to ask - what if her son were killed? That's not to say I was hoping for Wallis to be some vengeance-bent cop herself, but for her to show a tad of sympathy for Hume rather than scold him for murdering those likely better off dead anyway would have been nice.
Perhaps the real treat of Death Sentence is a tense chase through a parking lot, a chase which, whilst perhaps aided by CGI compositing, at least presented the illusion of a single-shot scene, lasting at least two or three minutes, as Hume hides from a large number of gang members closing in on him, resulting in a violent encounter, and a spectacular set piece involving a car, and, well, the parking lot roof. This scene alone at least exhibits Wan's growth as a director - as much as I enjoyed Saw, it's nice to see a far more sedate, less-hyperactive filmmaking style.
Hume, in his search for as much weaponry and ammunition as possible, encounters Bones Darley (John Goodman), a ridiculous-looking, eccentric, yet frequently amusing character in his own right. The lines Goodman is given are among the best in the film, such as proclaiming that one of his guns will deliver "head removal guaranteed". The majority of Goodman's scenes are rather funny, whether intentionally or not, and more to the point, once he puts on his pair of ludicrous glasses, these scenes lose any measure of tension that might have been creeping in. This isn't necessarily to the film's detriment, in that Goodman made the film considerably more entertaining, and he did well with what he was given.
The setup for the final act is very clear - Hume rather crudely shaves his head (an act Bacon insisted on doing rather than wearing a bald cap), and donning his son's leather jacket, resembles a Sex Pistols tribute band reject as he heads into the final battle, carrying more weapons and ammunition than a small army. The action pieces from here range from sick (where a man's leg is unceremoniously blown clean off) to beyond insane (bisecting a van with a car), and nearly throughout, Bacon's character sifts through without a scratch. As the film arrives at its sure-to-be-bloody showdown, be it not the fault of Wan but moreso his screenwriter, Ian Jeffers, we are informed in very heavy-handed fashion that Hume, in his quest for vengeance, has now become what he attempted to stop. The sheer postulation of this idea left an excruciatingly sour taste in my mouth, and considering that Hume is not like these men in most other aspects, I found that it almost pigeon-holed Bacon's character. Yes, in one's quest for vengeance they may have to get their hands dirty and sink to the level of their adversary, but these people, such as Hume, still retain those human elements that these animalistic grunts do not. What I at least agreed with, however, was that one man attempting vengeance for his own son's murder, is essentially just murdering another man's son, whether that man is as compassionate or loving a father as Hume or not.
Perhaps Death Sentence is telling us that you're damned if you do, and damned if you don't - the justice system will go easy on animals who should by all rights spend life behind bars, and taking the law into your own hands will likely cause you to lose more than you gain. It's quite a depressing picture to paint, and whilst I doubt the script was ever written with this consideration in mind, it's a nice idea. Unfortunately, one hasn't much time to ponder on it, as Detective Wallis creeps back on-screen in the film's final moments with a remark to suggest "I told you so" with all the subtlety of a "The More You Know" public service announcement.
All in all, Death Sentence is a confused moral piece that has an intriguing premise, but is mired by its straight-forwardness in tackling a contentious issue. The trailer may ask us "How far would you go to protect your family?", but the film itself seems to ask "How far would you go to endanger your family, destroying your family unit?". Bacon, something of an underrated and under-awarded actor, is a well-versed lead, and most of his foibles can be attributed to the script rather than Bacon's acting prowess, and Goodman's performance is likewise a gem that could well have been saved for better films. The film's logline may aswell have read "invincible Kevin Bacon battles endless waves of witless thugs", but to this effect, the film is loud, abrasive, and often very violent, and so Death Sentence will certainly find itself an audience. If anything, this film exhibits Wan's growth as a filmmaker, and to that point, it was infinitely more enjoyable than his horrendously awful Dead Silence.
Thanks for reading,
Reefer