Review of Death Sentence (2007) by Dee J — 06 May 2009

Intriguing but routine revenge thriller that starts well but aimlessly drifts towards a predictable finish.

Kevin Bacon sets his beady eyes to scary as an unconvincing family man who's number one son is slain in a gang initiation and when the law don't handle things to his satisfaction, Bacon sets out to deliver his own brand of vigilante justice.

The early going is fair enough, though Bacon never feels whole in his role, but once the vigilante stuff sets in he turns into some kind of superman. I guess the idea behind it is that people can go to extraordinary lengths for the justice of someone they love but Bacon is hardly an action hero and there are other ways his character could have gone about exacting his revenge which would have made for a better movie, rather than the ill judged one we get.

Aisha Tyler looks about a million years older than she did in Friends and 24 and sleep walks through her scenes as a disinterested cop. John Goodman plays out of type as an arms dealer and is given too little screen time and by the time Bacon shaves his head and goes properly psycho the film has lost all it's resonance and poignancy that it began with.

Death Sentence could have been a good film with a few re-writes and a little more restraint. As it is, it's a forgettable thriller, unbalanced and not all that exciting.