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Average User Score: 7 (31 sources)

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ihatefamilyguy

-1

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violent but cool revenge thriller!

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Posted jun 23, 2009 12:30 am pt

mackski

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I really liked this movie all based on the revenge of a father. Kevin Bacon turned in quite an impressive performance and his last scene of retribution on the gang was amazing. I just love one of the last scenes between him and the head of the...
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I really liked this movie all based on the revenge of a father. Kevin Bacon turned in quite an impressive performance and his last scene of retribution on the gang was amazing. I just love one of the last scenes between him and the head of the gang. Kevin Bacon takes out a gun and looks to the bad guy and says "Are you ready?"....very good script.

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Posted dec 28, 2008 9:26 am pt

Vyce3

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A great movie but not a ''Kevin Bacon masterpiece''. The movie is well acted, greatly produced and edited but it still could have been much more. The script lack a little depth but it remains light years ahead of Jodie Foster's The Brave One....
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A great movie but not a ''Kevin Bacon masterpiece''. The movie is well acted, greatly produced and edited but it still could have been much more. The script lack a little depth but it remains light years ahead of Jodie Foster's The Brave One. Worth watching.

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Posted may 29, 2008 6:46 am pt

bgriffithsps3

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Did 'The Brave One' not quite do it for you as a revenge flick? Then try 'Death Sentence'. Kevin Bacon plays Nick Hume, a family man with a wife and two teenage sons. His life seems pretty damn good until one horrible night one of his sons is...
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Did 'The Brave One' not quite do it for you as a revenge flick? Then try 'Death Sentence'. Kevin Bacon plays Nick Hume, a family man with a wife and two teenage sons. His life seems pretty damn good until one horrible night one of his sons is killed in front of him at a gas station as part of a gang member's initiation: kill a civilian.
Realising his son's killer will be let off with a light sentence he decides drastic measures are required. What he doesn't bank on is the rest of the gang coming after him and he's forced with transforming himself into something completely unrecognisable, a violent killer. Hume is not a man with a violent past and is often clumsy with his new guns and isn't too great in a brawl but manages to survive with raw determination. You never forget that he's just a civilian rather than a fully trained Navy Seal or hardened gang member. He also struggles with keeping the attentions of a detective and his family at bay while trying not to lose his mind. He doesn't need to narrate his feelings to the audience as all is laid bare in his performance.
The transformation from his character at the start and the end is frightening, not just visually (he looks like Nosferatu at one point), as he gives up everything to get his revenge. If you thought De Niro lost it at the end of 'Taxi Driver' you should see Bacon here.
Also worth a mention is the role John Goodman plays as an underground gun dealer. Quite possibly the darkest, meanest character he's ever played.
So all in all there are some great performances here from Bacon and Goodman in one of the harshest revenge movies you'll ever see, with a story that's not afraid to show someone struggle with right and wrong and the concept of justifiable violence.

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Posted may 29, 2008 5:43 am pt

afq2846

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Hollywood seems to love making remakes and here comes one that seems to be a remake. This movie is a copy basically of death wish. Bacon plays an average man who is getting gas. While he is waiting his son ends up in the middle of a gang...
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Hollywood seems to love making remakes and here comes one that seems to be a remake. This movie is a copy basically of death wish. Bacon plays an average man who is getting gas. While he is waiting his son ends up in the middle of a gang initiation. His son is killed and he wants revenge. So what would any average america do when his son is killed by a ruthless gang? He goes to their turf and kills the man who killed his son. Yeah right.. That in turn starts a war between him and the gang. They try to get him and then he goes back at them. Basically this is a death wish clone only with the violence brought up a notch. Bacon tries to act with what he has been given but there is not much there. The violence is there and its more graphic but its does not cover up the fact that this is your basic revenge movie not really doen well. Skip this movie its not very good.

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Posted jan 21, 2008 7:08 am pt

westcoastwillam

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This movie is so AWSOME!!!! James Waan kicks butt once again and Kevin Bacon is rite there with them , and I can compare this movie to movies like American history X which was amazing.The action in this movie is must see a very gripping story...
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This movie is so AWSOME!!!! James Waan kicks butt once again and Kevin Bacon is rite there with them , and I can compare this movie to movies like American history X which was amazing.The action in this movie is must see a very gripping story twists and turn but never lets you down in action and edge of your seat suspense.

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Posted sep 16, 2007 5:27 am pt

scprof

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This is the type of film where the lead actor puts in a great performance, (at the bed side of his son in hospital) but will never win any awards due to the graphic violence in it.
The action is very realistic compared to other films that...
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This is the type of film where the lead actor puts in a great performance, (at the bed side of his son in hospital) but will never win any awards due to the graphic violence in it.
The action is very realistic compared to other films that go over the top. People only get shot once, go down and stay down. When running about they actually get tired and find it harder to do things. When using a knife in a fight, injuries are received to the palm of the hand.
There are also bits in the film that have a nod to other films, like Taxi Driver and Terminator. It was also good to see the 'hero' having to read the gun manuals to figure out how to use the guns first, as he doesn't know what he's doing.

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Posted sep 4, 2007 7:11 pm pt

scprof

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This is the type of film where the lead actor puts in a great performance, (at the bed side of his son in hospital) but will never win any awards due to the graphic violence in it.
The action is very realistic compared to other films that...
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This is the type of film where the lead actor puts in a great performance, (at the bed side of his son in hospital) but will never win any awards due to the graphic violence in it.
The action is very realistic compared to other films that go over the top. People only get shot once, go down and stay down. When running about they actually get tired and find it harder to do things. When using a knife in a fight, injuries are received to the palm of the hand.
There are also bits in the film that have a nod to other films, like Taxi Driver and Terminator. It was also good to see the 'hero' having to read the gun manuals to figure out how to use the guns first, as he doesn't know what he's doing.

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Posted sep 4, 2007 7:10 pm pt

• [+] Variety
  
  70
  Well-made, often intensely gripping genre piece.

  by Justin Chang | Read Full Review »
• [+] Chicago Sun-Times
  
  63
  Wan's movie is very efficient. Bacon, skilled pro that he is, provides the character the movie needs, just as he has in such radically different films as "Where the Truth Lies," "The Woodsman" and "Mystic River."

  by Roger Ebert | Read Full Review »
• [+] Miami Herald
  
  63
  Death Sentence would be right at home as one half of "Grindhouse"'s B-movie double bill.

  by Peter Debruge | Read Full Review »
• [+] Film Threat
  
  60
  The action sequences are still pretty imaginative, if not nonsensical.

  by Michael Ferraro | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Onion (A.V. Club)
  
  58
  The film has one thing going for it--it's certainly never boring.

  by Scott Tobias | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Hollywood Reporter
  
  50
  Bears more than a slight connection to the landmark of the genre, 1974's "Death Wish," starring Charles Bronson. It is based on novelist Brian Garfield's sequel to his original book, though any resemblance is tenuous at best.

  by Frank Scheck | Read Full Review »
• [+] Los Angeles Times
  
  50
  While there is the requisite amount of shorn limbs and splashing blood one might expect from the director of "Saw," Wan should be saluted for putting the coup de grâce off-screen.

  by Jan Stuart | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  
  50
  Sadly, Bacon is only intermittently convincing as a man hell-bent on revenge or a father tortured by what he has unleashed on his family.

  by Kamal AL-Solaylee | Read Full Review »
• [+] Philadelphia Inquirer
  
  50
  Death Sentence's message - that vengeance is ultimately futile, spinning out a vicious circle of rage and hate - may be commendable, but there's nothing noteworthy about the way Wan, Bacon and their troops go about delivering it.

  by Steven Rea | Read Full Review »
• [+] Washington Post
  
  50
  Death Sentence, directed by "Saw" co-creator James Wan, swings the pendulum too far. One day Nick is a mild-mannered nerd who spends his days making (and loving) risk assessments for his company; the next, he's Travis Bickle from 1976's "Taxi Driver."

  by Desson Thomson | Read Full Review »
• [+] Boston Globe
  
  50
  The cynics will slap their foreheads, the squeamish will cover their eyes, but the revenge movie fanatics should be nice and satisfied after the whole ordeal.

  by Meredith Goldstein | Read Full Review »
• [+] Portland Oregonian
  
  42
  It's a cartoon that thinks it isn't one.

  by M. E. Russell | Read Full Review »
• [+] The New York Times
  
  40
  Aside from a stunning three-minute tracking shot as the gang pursues Nick through a parking garage, and Mr. Bacon's hauntingly pale, dark-eyed visage, Mr. Wan's film is a tedious, pandering time-waster.

  by Matt Zoller Seitz | Read Full Review »
• [+] Premiere
  
  38
  Wan wants to have something both ways, and in the end, he gets almost nothing. As Clint Eastwood said in yet another genre picture: A man's gotta know his limitations.

  by Glenn Kenny | Read Full Review »
• [+] Baltimore Sun
  
  33
  The movie has nothing to offer except titillation.

  by Michael Sragow | Read Full Review »