Death Sentence

R
**1/2 out of ****
2007


It's the return of the movie review! It's funny because I've definitely seen quite a few brand new movies in the theater the past couple months (including gems such as Juno and gag fests like Sweeney Todd), but I wanted to review the Kevin Bacon vigilante movie that I just watched and never even saw advertised. I have no idea if it was ever in theaters over here.

I picked up this movie for two reasons:


1.) Kevin Bacon in an action flick

2.) Kevin Bacon as a vigilante


And it was everything I thought it would be. ^_^


Premise: Mild mannered executive businessman Kevin Bacon has the perfect family. Beautiful, loving wife, star athlete teenage son, and... that other son. The one that could never live up to his brother's amazingness. Star athlete son Brendan and Bacon are on their way home from Brendan's hockey game. Stop at a has station. Brendan is brutally murdered as part of a gang initiation ritual. Commence deep burning rage and vigilante killings.




This movie... I have to laugh a little bit when I think about this movie because I never expected this to be anything more than a mindless action flick. It was much better than I expected it to be. It shows surprising depth when dealing with the aftermath of the favored son's death, and portrays Bacon's murder of the young man who killed his son in a realistic manner. After all, Bacon really is supposed to be just your average guy. The scene where he's looking for a weapon in his tool shed is great - he rummages through boxes picking up then discarding hedge trimmers, a rusty machete, hammers, etc. until he finally finds an old hunting knife and decides that this will be the murder weapon.

The movie goes on a little longer than necesary, I think, and the waiting for Bacon to finally shed his executive skin and turn into a complete badass gets a little frustrating. But man, is it worth waiting for!

**Spoiler Warning** There is a scene at the end that although sending the usual message of OMG he became the thing he hates 'you are the monster now' type thing, is still fairly powerful. After Bacon's rampage through the gang hideout, after his final showdown with the gang leader, they sit together on a bench, each bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds. Gang leader looks over at Bacon, taking in his newly shaved head and black leather jacket, and chuckles. "Look at you," he wheezes. "You look like one of us."

"Look what I've made you."

The writing is good, the acting is good, and the story is good - but even so, it's really just a canned plot action movie, which is why I didn't give it a better rating. Regardless, if you're in the mood for a decent action movie, this is definitely a good one to pick up. It's certainly not disappointing, and if you're expecting absolute crap (which to be honest is exactly what I was expecting when I rented it) you're going to be in for a pleasant surprise.

"I need to buy some guns."