Review of The Life of David Gale (2003) by James P — 09 Nov 2014

The film was working towards being a sound mockery of proponents of capital punishment until the very end where it was revealed that David Gale was in on the whole thing and was prepared to undergo execution in a suicide-by-cop type affair.

The goal of proving that innocents can be executed in an imperfect world suddenly became leaky; the suspect here has been convicted not because of an imperfect system but because the suspect himself helped implicate his own guilt.

That isn't necessarily a flaw in the plot itself but it did undermine the general anti-death penalty vibe and it, nevertheless, helped to compound the plot twist without being over-indulgent.