Death Sentence: Critic Reviews

The morality of revenge is barely at issue in a movie that pushes the plausibility of revenge right over a cliff.

A tedious, pandering time-waster.

Only drinking a pint of paint-stripper would leave a nastier taste in the mouth.

Is the movie trying to show how bloodlust and revenge can destroy a person? If so, it simultaneously revels in violence. Trying to have it both ways diminishes the entire undertaking, rendering it despicably hypocritical.

In Death Sentence, Kevin Bacon may not be the baddest dad who ever cocked a shotgun to defend his family, but he's the most insanely resolute -- and the least understandable.

The cynics will slap their foreheads, the squeamish will cover their eyes.

Bacon's performance in Saw creator James Wan's laughably extreme revenge thriller Death Sentence is six degrees of ham.

It may be the most depressing action movie ever made. Its calamities are well staged, and its acting, beyond some histrionics, is fine. But you don't enjoy this film; you endure it.

Utterly humorless and unrelentingly grim. Giving it a grainy, washed-out, fidgety look and choreographing scenes to create an atmosphere of claustrophobic disorientation, Mr. Wan has made a movie that is literally unpleasant to watch.

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.

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

From the perfect family home movies that open the film, to its unconvincing 'urban' settings, Death Sentence is one-dimensional, cliched.

Death Sentence takes the pulp revenge thriller to the edge. And then falls off.

Both the story and (literal) execution here are cheap and somewhat embarrassing for Bacon and company. Kill this movie.

Death Sentence most certainly is not a good movie.

This well-made, often intensely gripping genre piece packs some bizarre tonal extremities and a few moments of self-critique into its tale of a grieving father seeking his own brand of justice.

Fails to provide any sort of genuine social context for its violence.

An unsatisfying and not-that-smart vigilante thriller.

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

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.

Awesomely bad.

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

Watching this crude vigilante thriller feels more like a life sentence.

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.

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