[critical] Death Sentence

Between his successful career and his family life flourished, the existence of Nick Hume is rather comfortable. Yet, one evening, while he is full of gasoline with his eldest son, the road Nick will cross that of a gang. His son did not survive…

Although arrested, the culprit is quickly released. For Nick, there is no question that he can shoot as well. Ravaged by pain, and thirsting for revenge, he decides to take matters into their own hands and punish himself the murderer of his son…

Author’s Note

[rating:10/10]

• Release Date : January 16, 2008

• Directed by James Wan

• Film american

• With Kevin Bacon, Aisha Tyler, John Goodman, Kelly Preston

• Duration : 1: 45

• Trailer :

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How to survive the murder of one of his children? Let it do the justice with the possibility that justice is not rendered or to punish oneself(s) culprit(s) at the risk of drifting to the point of no return ?

James Wan presents this delicate statement without really taking advantage of it. It would encourage no way to do justice yourself, as it is largely the case in the Vigilante Movies, a genre very much in vogue in the early 80s (the saga of the Death Wish with Charles Bronson, The Right to Kill, Class of 1984, etc.). The revenge leads here the wave of violence in which each act is immediately sanctioned. A war without mercy is a book between Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon, sublime) and the gang, the outcome of which will be fatal for the majority of the protagonists.

Death Sentence surprises on several points, notably in the treatment of the characters: no one is inherently right or inherently wrong. Nick Hume dehumanizes completely by adopting vengeance as a credo. We witness her decay, and there is that little by little, it ends up looking like those he is fighting.

The gang, him, is minimized and welded in the face of adversity. They have their rules, kill at random during their rites of initiation, defend their territory passionately conquered but also become thirsty for revenge as soon as one takes it to one of their own.

In this, Nick Hume and the gang members meet. Vengeance is a human desire, which, unfortunately can lead to the worst tragedies…

Death Sentence is a poignant film, which leads us during 1: 45 in the wake of Nick Hume and his long descent into hell. The dramas that he undergoes are so many cases of conscience exposed to the audience (violence in response to violence ?).

The directing of James Wan is in turn intimate (in the scenes of family dramas, of human suffering) and dynamic (the plane sequence during the chase in the parking lot is simply mind-blowing). After Saw (first name) and Dead Silence (a small horror film, old school), James Wan shows us that he is capable of the best in a totally different register and he is a talented filmmaker, on which we must now count…