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Death Sentence (James Wan)
Slick Directing Can't Turn This Average Film Around.
After his son is murdered in front of his eyes at a gas station, Nick Hume, knowing the murderer will get out on the streets a few years later decides to take the law into his own hands. He soon finds himself on the run from the gang and desperately trying to protect his family.
This plot might sound familiar and that's because it's been done numerous times before with Bronson and coincidentally, the same year as The Brave One. Kevin Bacon plays the father who loses his son to a random crime and while sometimes his performance is lackluster, other times he seems to hit the right notes. His struggle with the death of his son, the horrors of killing another man and the fear for his family's safety takes a tole on a character and Bacon manages to pull it off in the end. This man goes from having the best life, to having next to nothing.
The film seems to flow in two different directions, thrilling and depressing. It's always hard to walk a fine line between two genres and here it works, for the most part. We never really get a chance to connect with the kid who dies at the beginning. The film opens with a montage of the kids life through a camera, then we see that he is a star athlete for Hockey and then he dies. If the film took another scene or two extra to set some kind of connection between this character, then the audience would be able to feel for Nick more. As a result, we never get the chance to feel what Nick is feeling. We know he lost his son and it is sad, but we are watching it and not feeling it. It's important for the viewer to feel this connection because that determines whether or not his actions are justified in the audiences eyes. Is one life for another justified? Nick makes the mistake of thinking so.
After he kills the one who killed his son (these are not spoilers because this is exactly what the film is about) his fellow gang members find out who did it and strike fear into his eyes. They attempt to kill Nick in broad day light, but it's unsuccessful, which then leads to a thrilling chase scenes, executed very well. While we may not think what Nick did was right, we do not want anymore sorrow it hit him or his family, we root for him to make it out alive.
The film does what I thought it would never do, it throws a curve ball. I was shocked and I applaud the filmmakers for doing so. It makes the events seem more realistic, not everything goes this characters way, there are bumps in the road and he's make that bumps bigger and badder. This event is so striking that Nick goes into a terminator mode, by shaving his head and loading up on a lot of guns. This is where the film takes a weird turn.
After having some trouble learning how to use the guns, Nick is off to end this war once and for all. Again, with a shaved head (actually a poor one, still some hair on the back side) he for some reason becomes a killing machine, wielding a shot gun, hand guns and Dirty Harry's favourite magnum. It's a stretch to believe this suit can do all this damage. Then again, one of the themes of the film is that you can do pretty much anything if the occasion calls for it.
While parts of the script are laughable, the direction is very well done. Young filmmaker James Wan, of Saw fame, creates thrilling chase sequences and nice camera movements. It makes up for some shoddy area in the script and the depressing scenes from prior. There is one sequence though that I couldn't help but laugh at, when Bacon walks away from a car unscratched, after having it plow through a van ripping it in half.
John Goodman has a small role and he seems to be enjoying himself here. Which is nice to see because everything else is....you guessed it, depressing. I have yet to see The Brave One, so there is no comparison here. I hear good things about Foster's performance and that film seemed to push this one out of the lime light. It's not that this film is bad, it just needs some work.
Slick Directing Can't Turn This Average Film Around.
After his son is murdered in front of his eyes at a gas station, Nick Hume, knowing the murderer will get out on the streets a few years later decides to take the law into his own hands. He soon finds himself on the run from the gang and desperately trying to protect his family.
This plot might sound familiar and that's because it's been done numerous times before with Bronson and coincidentally, the same year as The Brave One. Kevin Bacon plays the father who loses his son to a random crime and while sometimes his performance is lackluster, other times he seems to hit the right notes. His struggle with the death of his son, the horrors of killing another man and the fear for his family's safety takes a tole on a character and Bacon manages to pull it off in the end. This man goes from having the best life, to having next to nothing.
The film seems to flow in two different directions, thrilling and depressing. It's always hard to walk a fine line between two genres and here it works, for the most part. We never really get a chance to connect with the kid who dies at the beginning. The film opens with a montage of the kids life through a camera, then we see that he is a star athlete for Hockey and then he dies. If the film took another scene or two extra to set some kind of connection between this character, then the audience would be able to feel for Nick more. As a result, we never get the chance to feel what Nick is feeling. We know he lost his son and it is sad, but we are watching it and not feeling it. It's important for the viewer to feel this connection because that determines whether or not his actions are justified in the audiences eyes. Is one life for another justified? Nick makes the mistake of thinking so.
After he kills the one who killed his son (these are not spoilers because this is exactly what the film is about) his fellow gang members find out who did it and strike fear into his eyes. They attempt to kill Nick in broad day light, but it's unsuccessful, which then leads to a thrilling chase scenes, executed very well. While we may not think what Nick did was right, we do not want anymore sorrow it hit him or his family, we root for him to make it out alive.
The film does what I thought it would never do, it throws a curve ball. I was shocked and I applaud the filmmakers for doing so. It makes the events seem more realistic, not everything goes this characters way, there are bumps in the road and he's make that bumps bigger and badder. This event is so striking that Nick goes into a terminator mode, by shaving his head and loading up on a lot of guns. This is where the film takes a weird turn.
After having some trouble learning how to use the guns, Nick is off to end this war once and for all. Again, with a shaved head (actually a poor one, still some hair on the back side) he for some reason becomes a killing machine, wielding a shot gun, hand guns and Dirty Harry's favourite magnum. It's a stretch to believe this suit can do all this damage. Then again, one of the themes of the film is that you can do pretty much anything if the occasion calls for it.
While parts of the script are laughable, the direction is very well done. Young filmmaker James Wan, of Saw fame, creates thrilling chase sequences and nice camera movements. It makes up for some shoddy area in the script and the depressing scenes from prior. There is one sequence though that I couldn't help but laugh at, when Bacon walks away from a car unscratched, after having it plow through a van ripping it in half.
John Goodman has a small role and he seems to be enjoying himself here. Which is nice to see because everything else is....you guessed it, depressing. I have yet to see The Brave One, so there is no comparison here. I hear good things about Foster's performance and that film seemed to push this one out of the lime light. It's not that this film is bad, it just needs some work.