Death Sentence is a 2007 film loosely based on the 1975 novel by Brian Garfield. The film is directed by Saw director James Wan, and stars Kevin Bacon as Nick Hume, a man who becomes a vengeful vigilante killer after his son is murdered by a gang as an initiation ritual. The film premiered on August 31, 2007. It was filmed at and it took place in Columbia, South Carolina.
Plot summary
The story revolves around Nick Hume, who is a loving husband, and father of two sons, Brendan and Luke. After a hockey game, he and his oldest son Brendan make a quick stop at a gas station to get some fuel. While Brendan is getting something to drink inside, two cars arrive at the gas station, containing gang members who are about to rob the gas station. The station owner tries to grab for his gun, but is spotted by one of the gang members and shot to death. It is then revealed that a new gang member has to prove himself to "become a man". Brendan is killed as an initiation rite. Brendan gets sliced across the neck with a machete. When Nick is trying to ambush the thugs, he manages to tackle the actual killer who was making a run for it out of the gas station, and pulling off his mask, seeing the killer's face, who then manages to escape, but gets hit by a car. Nick rushes into the gas station, where his son is bleeding to death. Nick takes his son to the hospital, but Brendan dies.
Nick later finds out that the killer, Joe, at best will only get a few years in jail and maybe not even that if the case goes to court, so forces the police to drop the case, which results in the killer becoming a free man. Nick then goes after the killer himself and stabs him with a knife. The gang, led by Billy, who is the older brother of Brendan's killer, wants revenge for the death of Joe. The police know what is happening but don't take Nick into custody, but grant him protection. The cops watching over the house of the Humes get killed, and the gang members make their way into Nick's house, where they shoot Nick's wife, Helen, and other son, Luke. Finally, they also shoot Nick.
Nick manages to survive, and learns in the hospital that his son Luke did too. After paying a short visit to his son, who's in a coma, he escapes from the hospital to go after the gang members. He pays a visit to a person named Bones, who's selling guns. He then finds out that Bones is the father of Billy and Joe, but Bones allows Nick to carry on with his plans. When Bones goes after Billy to warn him about what's going to happen, Billy shoots his own father dead. When Billy arrives at the gang's meeting place, it turns out Nick is already there, and a few gang members are already killed. Billy and Nick meet up and start a fire fight, that ends when both of their guns run out of bullets. They sit next to each other and Billy tells Nick to look at himself, of what he has become, and what Billy made of him. Nick then pulls another gun from his jacket, asks Billy if he's ready, and Billy sighs. The next shot shows Nick walking out of the building, silently revealing that he just killed Billy.
When Nick arrives at his house, he turns on the TV to watch the videos of his family. The police arrive and tell him that his son started moving, and that he'll probably make it through. Nick shows a sign of relief and looks back to the TV. It shows Luke, Helen, Nick and Brendan singing on the couch.
Cast
Critical reception
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 16% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 91 reviews, as of September 14, 2007.[1] On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 36 out of 100, based on 24 reviews.[2] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2 1/2 stars out of 4 and remarked that in the 1970s, author Brian Garfield came to Chicago to research the city because the novel Death Sentence is set there. Ebert, Jay Robert Nash, John McHugh and Bill Granger agreed to meet him at the Billy Goat, a restaurant on the lower level of Michigan Avenue and Garfield dedicated the book to them. Ebert wrote that Death Wish II was set in Los Angeles, even though Death Sentence is set in Chicago, and wrote "now here at last, in 2007, is Death Sentence, and it is filmed in, that's right, South Carolina. It doesn't follow the book, either." Ebert continued, "In the Bronson movies, the hero just looked more and more determined until you felt if you tapped his face, it would explode. In Death Sentence, Bacon acts out a lot more" and also wrote "Wan's movie is very efficient." Roger Ebert concluded, "There is a courtroom scene of true surprise and suspense, and some other effective moments, but basically this is a movie about a lot of people shooting at each other..."[3]
Author Brian Garfield, who wrote the novel the film is loosely based on, stated on his official website that the film is exciting and thought-provoking and said he feels the shooting script is excellent. Garfield said, "While I could have done with a bit less blood-and-thunder, I think it's a stunningly good movie. In the details of its story it's quite different from the novel, but it's a movie, not a novel. In its cinematic way it connects with its audience and it makes the same point the book makes, and those are the things that count."[4]
Trivia
- The original attack started because Nick flashed the gangster's cars because they were driving without lights on. This is based on an old urban legend. [5]
- During the scene when Nick has the junkie call Billy, you can see "Billy the Puppet" from James Wan's Saw films painted on the wall behind Billy.
- Judith Roberts plays a judge named Shaw, which is a reference to Mary Shaw who is played by the same actress in James Wan's Dead Silence.
- When Nick beats the junkie and forces him to tell him where the mental institution is, the junkie says Stygian Street, the exact same street that detectives Tapp and Sing go to apprehend Jigsaw in the first Saw film.
- In the garage chase scene, the crew had to build a handheld rig which allowed the camera to be passed from one person to the other so that they could film the whole chase in one shot. To compensate, Kevin Bacon had to ride a go cart from level to level to make it seem like he ran the distance in order to catch up with the camera.
- There are several references to James Wan's Saw such as the flickering florecent lights at the drug house.
DVD Release
This film was released on DVD on January 8, 2008.
References
External links
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The Death Wish Pentalogy |
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