DEATH SENTENCE (2007)

[The Burgomaster]

Here is yet another revenge movie based on a Brian Garfield (DEATH WISH, BREAKING POINT) novel.  Does Garfield know how to write anything other than "Mr. Every Man suffers a tragic loss at the hands of criminals and becomes a one-man killing machine"?????  Well, here he goes again.

Kevin Bacon stars as Nick Hume, a devoted husband and father whose hockey star son is killed by gang bangers.  As we have seen a million times before in similar movies, the justice system fails and Hume decides to take matters into his own hands.  So he arms himself with a variety of fire arms and goes after the gang with guns blazing.

This movie manages to rip off DEATH WISH and TAXI DRIVER (and probably a dozen other movies, too). 

You might be interested in seeing John Goodman as a sleazy crook who reminded me a lot of the Robert Prosky character in CHRISTINE.  Other than that this is a run-of-the-mill revenge flick directed by James (SAW, DEAD SILENCE) Wan.

The DVD has both the theatrical version and an unrated version that's 5 or 6 minutes longer.  I watched the unrated version and didn't think it was overly violent or gory.  I haven't seen the theatrical version yet, so I can't compare them.

[Torgo]

I had heard about some rave reviews that were given to Kevin Bacon's performance in this, but since it was from the director of SAW (which I hated with unbridled fury) I think I'll avoid it.

[The Burgomaster]

Bacon's performance was decent, but far from what I think would deserve rave reviews.  He basically plays the same "average guy out for revenge" that we've seen in numerous other movies.