MaximumMadness Since bursting onto the scene with his electrifying thriller "Saw" back in 2004, Australian director James Wan has solidified himself as one of the go-to guys for sheer, visceral chills. With a sharp sense of pacing and composition and a keen eye for talent, Wan has continued to expand his expertise with each new movie- whether it be the low-budget haunted-house story "Insidious", or indeed the massively budgeted action-extravaganza "Furious 7." But early in his near-fifteen year career, he unleashed a rather peculiar film that's quite unlike anything else he's ever done. A down-and-dirty, gritty tale of revenge entitled "Death Sentence", starring Kevin Bacon as a man pushed beyond his limits.Based very loosely upon the second "Death Wish" novel, the film follows mild-mannered father Nick Hume (Bacon), whose athletically gifted son Brendan is killed almost ritualistically one night as part of a gang-initiation. Fearing that the courts will fail to bring true justice for his son's death, Nick instead opts to act outside of the law, and he strikes back and kills the man responsible for Brendan's death. What he cannot fully comprehend, however, is the ramifications of his actions. Soon, he finds himself a target of the gang, and must act to protect himself and his remaining family from the violent and volatile Billy Darley (Garrett Hedlund)...The fascinating thing about the film is the fact that it's far from a black-and-white matter, and Wan wisely treats everyone- including the villainous Darley- as full-fledged characters. There's many layers to the story, and it becomes a tale of evil begetting evil. A story of men driven to become monsters due to the circumstances of their lives- including some circumstances beyond their control. You might not identify with or even necessarily sympathize with Hume or the villainous figures of the story... and yet, you always have a degree of empathy for them, which gives the whole story an additional level of complexity that benefits it greatly. You can understand where everyone is coming from and why, and the real tragedy ultimately comes down to the fact that these are potentially good people taken down a dark path.Bacon is an absolutely revelation in the film, and this is by far one of the most ambitious and risky performances of his career. He has so much ground to cover, and yet he accomplishes it with so much ease and gusto... further solidifying himself as one of the great underrated talents working in film. I also very much admired Hedlund's exquisite performance as Darley. A role he injects a great deal of pain and pathos into. It's a fine balancing act between agony and intimidation, and Hedlund pulls it off wonderfully. Supporting roles by the likes of Aisha Tyler, John Goodman and Kelly Preston are also very well cast and do their roles justice despite not always getting a great deal of screen-time.Visually, the film is quite well-assembled, with Wan finally getting something of a bigger budget to work with and show off his skill. And there are indeed many stand-out sequences, including a brief but incredibly intense court-room battle of wills built around slow zooms that left me breathless. I also definitely have to bring up the film's famous single-shot chase scene, which is a logistical marvel to behold- as Nick is pursued throughout a parking garage in one unbroken take. Wan might not have been a master of his craft quite yet, but this is a stepping stone to greater things, and you can see hints of what he would eventually accomplish in future works.The film does however have many glaring issues, which is where it loses a few points from me. While the camera-work is slick and stylish, I found the cinematography a bit too distracting in key moments- it filled with too much of that awful over-exposed, low- saturation early 2000's look. I'm sorry, I know it's gritty and all... but that type of image quality always looked cheap and tacky to me, and seems far too artificial. The film also outstays its welcome a bit too often in key scenes, and I can't help but feel a good ten minutes could have been cut out. Still, that can't diminish the fact that on the whole, "Death Sentence" is a solid, hard-hitting thriller that's worth checking out. With great themes and absolutely stunning performances, it's a bloody and distressing tale of revenge done right for the most part. And so, I give it a pretty good 7 out of 10.

dcobbimdb This is not your average Disney movie for sure. Sadly someone wrote a novel about an executive Dudley do right and his family who happens to cross wrong paths of a gang initiation and this movie is the aftermath...It's not an easy watch, and honestly it's not the most believable, although in times it seems to be, weird right? Make no mistake this is not a family watch, unless you have weird family. Kevin did a great job given the circumstances. I mean you can't expect a natural born killer out of a random experience right? And I think this movie somewhat played it off, although I think in the real world it would have been circumvented prematurely, at least by the law.The realism, well who the heck knows right. In some scenes I thought there wasn't enough emotion (me being a family man & all), and some scenes I thought it was just, after all it's only a movie right? I would hate to think about anyone having to go through anything similar in real life, and for those who have, well I'm sure they can put deeper thoughts than I have in this review. I can say one thing for sure, and this from personal experience which gratefully didn't come to this degree, but if anyone ever did hurt any of my family, sadly I would do exactly like Kevin did in this and go all out vengeance, and to my demise if it came to that.So to wrap up, a decent action flick, but with much more involved, so not a senseless flick by any means. There are aspects of realism and yet aspects of movie-like, so don't kid yourself or loose sleep over what all happens. Afterall it's Hollywood right?

Mr-Fusion "Death Sentence" features a really good piece of dialogue, which I'd seen written on a website (I'm at a loss for citation) before ever having heard of this movie. Anyhoo, it's John Goodman, selling black market guns to royally-wronged Kevin Bacon:"You've got the bastard of bastards. A .357, for guaranteed head removal. That's- that's a sweetie. You got your standard-size, super-size. That's a f-ckin' hungry man right there. And you got the king of mayhem. Half cannon, sword of justice. Take this f-cker to the Holy Land, start your own crusade. Any one of these is bound to make you feel better about what's bothering you."Seriously, imagine John Goodman saying those words. Hell, I'd buy guns from that guy!Sadly the movie itself is just a "Death Wish" clone with an identity crisis. Is Kevin Bacon a modern Charles Bronson, or Travis Bickle? The movie wants him to be both, and that confusion is why the revenge angle never bears fruit. Just when you think he's attained a clear head after all he's suffered , he flips the switch into utter badass (complete with unexplained fighting moves, honed marksmanship and a steely resolve. Okay, that's still not a deal-breaker. And with a movie like this, you need the police to be useless, so the hero/wronged has an excuse to go full-on vigilante. Totally fine. But where's the police when the big bad gang kills their own? Hollywood always teaches us that a cop-killer is as cardinal-sin as it gets. Anyway, Bacon goes mental and the bad guys start paying dearly, but there's never much fun to be had here. Aside from one stand-out foot chase, it's mostly bad camera-work and manic editing.Blech.7/10

muhammedamelgammal This movie turned out to be better than expected. The story was incredible.Nick Hume, played by Kevin Bacon, had the ideal life. He was a respected member in the community. He had a sustainable career, and so did his wife Helen Hume, played by Kelly Preston. He had two sons who were scholars and athletes. He could not ask for any more.But in a tragic accident, Hume's oldest son was brutally murdered by a gang. Hume tried to stop the gang members and was not successful, but he was able to identify the murderer. But if he were to testify against the murderer in court, even if convicted, he would not have received life in prison. So Hume decides to not testify, the charges were dropped, and Hume took matters into his own hands. Hume murders his son's murderer. Little did he know that action would create a ripple effect that would escalate to the gang to now attempt to kill the rest of his family.It was intense watching Hume evolve from his good self into an evil criminal that would do what it would take to protect his family from the gang that was now after him. Every person has a dark side, and Hume expressed his incredibly loud.