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Death Sentence (2007)

tomatometer

20

Average Rating: 4.1/10
Reviews Counted: 112
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 90

A nonsensical plot and an absurd amount of violence make this revenge pic gratuitous and overwrought.

7

Average Rating: 3.6/10
Critic Reviews: 28
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 26

A nonsensical plot and an absurd amount of violence make this revenge pic gratuitous and overwrought.

audience

62

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 94,958

My Rating

Movie Info

Part vigilante drama and part psychological thriller, the James Wan-directed Death Sentence stars Kevin Bacon as Nick Hume, a deceptively passive exec whose wife and children are attacked in a sadistic, gang-related hazing rite, and his oldest son killed. Hell-bent on cold-blooded vengeance, Hume pulls a Bronson by tagging each of the perpetrators, then tracking down and rubbing out each one, with the help of formidable, blue-steel artillery. Aisha Tyler co-stars as the homicide detective who

R, 1 hr. 45 min.

Drama, Action & Adventure

Ian Jeffers

Jan 8, 2008

$9.5M

Fox Atomic

Cast

All Critics (114) | Top Critics (28) | Fresh (22) | Rotten (92) | DVD (8)

Bacon, as usual, is very good even when he's slumming, and as a trashy B-movie redo of Death Wish the movie works well enough for a Saturday afternoon with a case of brewskies.

January 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Film.com | Comment
Film.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This graphically violent film suffers from cursorily developed characters whose primary function is to advance the creaky plot.

December 3, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
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The morality of revenge is barely at issue in a movie that pushes the plausibility of revenge right over a cliff.

September 5, 2007 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | Comment
Entertainment Weekly
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It's terrible and it's so disappointing because I love Kevin Bacon and I love Aisha [Tyler] and you have good actors here who are trapped.

September 4, 2007 Comment
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

The result is such a mish-mash of conflicting tones and ideas that it doesn't play well on any level.

September 1, 2007 Full Review Source: ReelViews | Comment
ReelViews
Top Critic IconTop Critic

. At both its best and worst, it feels like the missing third part of the faux retro double-bill Grindhouse.

August 31, 2007 Full Review Source: Toronto Star | Comment
Toronto Star
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's a gritty, adrenaline-soaked thriller -- and if that's as deep as you care to dig, you'll be entertained. But for those who care to contemplate, it's quite a bit more.

October 9, 2009 Full Review Source: Times-Picayune | Comment
Times-Picayune

It's a powerful, visceral revenge flick, and Kevin Bacon does a fine acting job bringing the vigilante to life.

August 17, 2008 Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | Comment
7M Pictures

Vigilante justice turns ugly and painful. No kids.

July 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

A gritty and gripping revenge fantasy %u2026 Kevin Bacon's talent and persona to make us sit up and take notice

April 26, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

Death Sentence is a laughably bad exercise in the pornography of sadism and the American appetite which voraciously consumes it.

February 28, 2008 Full Review Source: BrandonFibbs.com | Comment
BrandonFibbs.com

This Sentence is as grisly and violent as the trailer portends.

February 4, 2008 Full Review Source: Washington Times | Comment

I really enjoyed what [it] had to offer with takes on morals, war, and the damage violence can do to people in its grasp...

January 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | Comment
Cinema Crazed

Death Sentence tries to do two things: be a stirring family drama and a balls-out gore soaked revenge flick. It achieves only one of those goals.

January 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Dread Central | Comment

More tainted yuppie superhero wet dream, than Charles Bronson anti-inner city backlash burb paranoid freakout. And as a result, the lines are more clearly drawn as to distributed dark sides of these sympathy-challenged characters.

December 28, 2007 Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | Comment
NewsBlaze

Begins promisingly but ends putridly.

November 1, 2007 Full Review | Comment
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

...the film's schizophrenic nature eventually proves to be its downfall...

October 13, 2007 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | Comment
Reel Film Reviews

Don't hire Kevin Bacon for a role you wrote for Charles Bronson.

September 21, 2007 Full Review Source: HollywoodChicago.com | Comment (1)
HollywoodChicago.com
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Death Sentence

I don't know....It was both good and bad....but I guess mostly good. John Goodman was pretty cool

November 28, 2010
TheGame90
Martin Sahlin

Super Reviewer

Death Sentence would be the worst movie of the year if it weren't for two people. The first being Kevin Bacon. He creates the character this kind of movie needs. You're everyday man with the perfect family and the perfect job. Anyone can relate to him. But when his son is killed in a random robbery by a vicious gang,

September 4, 2007
MovieGeek13

Super Reviewer

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