Review – Death Sentence
- Ethan Cole

Highlights: Detractors:

  • Car park foot chase
  • Soundtrack

The oldest son of a risk assessment corporate sap gets killed in a random gang attack.  He quickly comes to realize the judicial system is bullshit and thus decides to take matters into his own hands – taking the life of the punk who murdered his son.  Through these tightly scripted series of events the gang also seeks retribution… and then “it’s on” or some other generic words to that effect.  Here begins the tale of: he who devolves from a moron, to a gangland retard.

The credits open up with a generic too well-framed-and-in-focus-for-
a-home-video SDV camera shots of the family; which does the job quickly of establishing the 'happy family' in the appropriate syntax and [thankfully] ends just before it becomes too sickeningly queasy.

Given Hume’s risk-assessment background there seems to be an abundance of (presumably unintentional) irony littered about.  One such gem is established early on at the gas station where he uses a mobile phone while fueling up.  This does establish the necessary suspension of disbelief for what’s to follow.  In fact this guy’s sense of risk-assessment is so accurately tuned that he can analyze and utilize elements to his advantage, giving him a keener survival instinct whist simultaneously applying his creative solutions and problem solving attributes.  It almost comes off as a writer/director’s wink at the audience, particularly given the later sections of the movie where he’s endowed with a supernatural sense of risk-assessment; bestowed with increased survival traits and harnessing near Rube Goldberg structured luck.

Regardless of the use of cinematic short hands and narrative devices such as a montage, there are a fair number of sequences where it’s even a stretch for popcorn logic.  It’s handled in such a way that Hume’s gets in way over his head, but the idiot has it coming – such as driving his conspicuous car into a film-safe shitty neighborhood.  Nonetheless it does indicate a degree of resistance and hesitation; reflective of a conflicted mental state, which factors in nicely when the decisive change-over occurs, right up to the kill.  Thankfully he doesn’t just walk in and pop the guy, there’s some evidence of reluctance – and as a result it’s a struggle.

Unfortunately any area of real drama and potential character depth is squandered due to the overly melodramatic slaps of a music video.  These TV-show format moments work to the detriment of the picture – being an all too familiar cheap route to a false emotional connect, which isn’t helped by the camerawork or the editing – even punctuated with the expected fade to black.  It’s a shame these scenes are tainted by this device, as Bacon’s able to exude a latent malevolence here which is a potential never fully realized.

To make matters worse the score for these sequences is overkill, pushing over the top with the vocal track.  Imagine if you will: your head in an inverted empty (not necessarily clean) fishbowl; the tune playing: something similar to that annoying thematic tune that constantly runs throughout Heroes – and you’ll have some rough idea.  It’s too bad this soundtrack wasn’t ditched and opted to utilize sound design more, since Wan’s visual style is great at times, to think of how much more intense the rest of the movie could have been…  Especially in a time where source music has been overused – mostly thanks to the pricks involved in licensing deals on television – the over sentimental lie ringing false to feeling rather than truth in emotion; that any cunt can stick images together with some music on fucking Youtube (fuck Youtube)  to generate the same effect… especially you AMV pricks.  This does speak of the desired demographic for which this movie would be suited for; here it is – a revenge movie for the new generation of the shallow.  The audience that has become used to this associating the soundtrack with the movie, because they like that song and therefore like the movie – or something as intolerable like that – scars my damned temporal lobe trying to postulate or ponder [Pinky?] what goes on in their idiocy.

Going into this movie, you pretty much know what to expect and what's going to happen, thus the only interest that remains is how the shit hits the fan.  The cinematography and stunt work is at its best during these sections, the most noteworthy of which being an awesome sequence during a chase through the parking lot structure.  Featured here is some genuine tension and suspense.  Wan’s use of camera and effects goes well to establishing the geography and inherent danger.  It’s just a shame the whole movie wasn’t like this.

The gang comes off as some weird hybrid of potential sociopaths that you might find in something like xXx or The Fast and the Furious rendered with an the modern Hollywood hard-light gloss that reduces them to an almost boyband-essque badguys.  Not that this really matters since they’re not real characters as much as magazine cutouts, being for the most part all Caucasian and one African-American amounting to an unintentionally funny line from Dr. Biglove “we’re like brothers man”.  Not to say they can’t be like brothers but there aren’t any ‘characters evident on screen.  As for real humor, there’s John Goodman – providing a nice injection of humor pre-finale.

The violence itself isn’t gratuitous contrary to the more ‘thinking-man’ poser-pussies.  In light of the given the material it’s rather tame; as the core of real violence is emotionally driven – which in this context is lacking truth.  Hence the music and melodrama, the MTV/Reality TV types can soak in it, may you eat this up and choke.

The home invasion is a well choreographed sequence of setups, whilst Hume’s is still lucky to some degree – so far as sustaining action inhibiting injuries – there’s a sense of risk and danger within the confines of the close quarters assault; effectively conveying the cramped environment.  The family shooting was somewhat disappointing given I was expecting it to be brutal, something like a mix of Saw and Funny Games (the original, of which I had a series of light flashbacks to… although in that particular instance I was rooting for the invaders – here I don’t give a shit about any of them).  So if you’re expecting the wife to get gang-raped and the kids tortured while they hold the screaming father down; forcing him to watch – it’s not here.  So you can feel safe watching this.

The expected syntax is in play and it's good enough to get the job done, as ‘the fun’ really starts when Humes sets up for the end game – which is what we all came for.  But it’s missing the expected dramatic punch, which is a necessity in order to effectively pay off in relation to the deconstruction that is the transformation of the Humes character.  His choice of weaponry is interesting,though isn’t deeply explored which is fine, since it’s irrelevant at this point to do so and pays off nicely in the scenes that follow – also there’s a montage.  However there isn’t any form of tension or sense of imminent danger since Humes just walks in cold.  Arguably this could be a result of his total detachment, which is more than likely evident in the context of Bacon’s performance, but the lack of its expression hinders the scene, there in reduced to the interpretation that it’s once again his latent super-risk-management senses tingling.

Ultimately the product has the makings of a potentially good movie sandwiched into a passable TV show but ends up yet another example of the new generation of watered down shallow and disposable media that’s supposed to pass for entertainment; featuring violence without the grit and grime, masked in a safe and shiny package. 

It’s been a long while since I’ve seen Death Wish, but suffice to say Kevin Bacon doesn’t quite posses the same grit as Charles Bronson – a different league.  Then again, this is a very different movie, and with it a different tone.  It’s not something really recommendable even in light of a scant set of entertaining kills, despite being too conveniently scripted.  This back and forth dynamic allows the events to unfold in such a way that the gang finds him, tries to kill him, and later upgrades to killing his family.  It’s a simple concept that fails to deliver for the most part, unless maybe you’re part of the crowd that liked The Fast and the Furious.  If you do plan on watching this; just remember this guy isn’t The Punisher (even with his laughable tooling up sequence) he’s just a tool.

Recommended For:

Alternatives:

Rating: 3.2/10
Cumjackulation Rating: 4.5/10
(ratings explained)