Death Sentence is a revenge flick that's so over-the-top if it was a pizza it'd be a supreme – a supreme with extra cheese and plenty of Bacon. That'd be Kevin Bacon, of course.
The perennially youthful actor here plays Nick, a mild-mannered insurance assessor who's a devoted husband and father of two teenage boys. When his youngest is killed in front of his eyes in a senseless gang initiation, Nick can't get any legal satisfaction. And so he takes matters into his own hands. But this DIY justice just triggers an ever-escalating war with the psychopathic gang.
Death Sentence covers the same sort of territory as the recent vigilante flick The Brave One. Thankfully, this one hasn't got any pretensions to po-faced statements about what killing does to your soul. Rather, it's firmly in the exploitation mould – it could've been a third film in Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's Grindhouse showcase.
Death Sentence is directed by James Wan, the young Aussie who launched his career with Saw. And this confirms his penchant for stylised violence – there are body bits splattering all over the place in the finale – but there are also some very suspenseful sequences.
In fact, Death Sentence offers a bit of everything – there's grim emotional drama at the start, action-blockbuster thrills in the middle and then an out-of-control self parody toward the end.
This is a very guilty pleasure, best enjoyed with a few beers and, yes, a pizza with the lot. Death Sentence rates 3 stars is now available on DVD.
