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The online film magazine Combustible Celluloid offers new movie reviews, DVD reviews, film reviews, actor interviews, actress interviews, director interviews, film books and all things cinema related for the thoughtful and passionate. Online for ten years! Over 3000 reviews!

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Death Sentence (2007)

Rating: 2 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Self Vengeance

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Death Sentence on DVD

Based on a novel by Brian Garfield, whose work also inspired Death Wish (1974), this revenge fantasy directed by James Wan (Saw) can be irresistible in a primal, physical sense. Kevin Bacon stars as Nick Hume, a comfortable family man. When gang members slay his eldest son in a gas station, and Nick learns that the justice system may not work, he goes for his own revenge. Unfortunately, his actions start a full-on war, invoking the wrath of a vicious gang leader (Garrett Hedlund). Wan stages an exhilarating foot chase and a good shootout, and Bacon lends his consummate skill to a few emotional passages, but the practical side, the details of the plot, run to the ridiculous and dampen the film's more prickly parts.

AskMen.com: Death Sentence

Starring: Kevin Bacon, Garrett Hedlund, Kelly Preston, Jordan Garrett, Stuart Lafferty, Aisha Tyler, John Goodman, Matt O'Leary, Edi Gathegi, Hector Atreyu Ruiz, Kanin J. Howell, Dennis Keiffer, Freddy Bouciegues, Leigh Whannell, Casey Pieretti, Rich Ceraulo, Elizabeth Keener, Yorgo Constantine, Juan-Carlos Guzman
Written by: Ian Jeffers, based on a novel by Brian Garfield
Directed by: James Wan
MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody brutal violence and pervasive language
Running Time: 99 minutes
Date: August 31, 2007