Ladies and gentlemen, if you enjoy watching gore, violence, and straight-up murder, “Death Sentence” is the film for you!
“Death Sentence,” based on a novel by Brian Garfield, follows the pristine life of Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) until one horrible night when he witnesses the murder of his oldest son. Upset that the killer won’t be prosecuted due to lack of evidence, Hume decides to take matters into his own hands.
Directed by James Wan, original creator and director of “Saw,” this film lacks what “Saw” had, a story. At times the dialogue in this film would be so predictable that you knew what each character was about to say before they said it. This lack of predictability produced no “curve balls,” as each character was some form of stereotype.
Kevin Bacon’s character is a Risk Assessment Executive who decides to get gas in the wrong part of town. His son, Brendan Hume (Stuart Lafferty), is an up and coming hockey player who loses his life too early in a gang killing. Who saw that coming? Helen Hume (Kelly Preston) is a devout mother, traumatized by the situation, who gives everything to her husband. Why can’t she be more domineering? The youngest son, Lucas Hume (Jordan Garrett), believes he is the runt and that the family wouldn’t have been as sad if he’d died instead of his older brother. Who wouldn’t think this?
In the opposite spectrum are the stereotypes applied to the gang members. They are influenced by the society that they have grown up in and believe they are the ‘righteous ones’ praying in front of a shot up alter.
The lack of writing leads to a more defined music score, added to every single scene with some heightened sense of emotion. This music helped moved the story along and was a necessity to the film.
Where the writing fumbles throughout the story, it inevitably falls upon the actors. Bacon fails to deliver but succeeds in delivering a plethora of emotions. At times his character reminds me of Bruce Campbell in “The Evil Dead” falling back on his little shack where he stores all his weapons, minus the sawed-off shotgun.
There is also a nice scene with Bacon shaving his head when he transforms, kind of like Demi Moore in G.I. Jane. He is all over the place but his supporting actors help his bleak performance.
John Goodman finds his niche playing Bones Darling, the father of head gang member Billy Darling (Garrett Hedlund). His crazy methodical antics are reminiscent of a bi-polar serial killer intent on teaching his sons the right thing.