Death Sentence

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Death Sentence

R

2007

1h 50m

Mystery & Thriller

Action

Drama

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Popcornmeter

20%

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113 Reviews

60%

Popcornmeter

50,000+ Ratings

Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) is on his way home from a hockey game with his son, Brendan, and stops for gasoline. Helplessly he sees a street thug kill Brendan while robbing the station. Believing the justice system will fail him, Nick goes after the killer himself, setting off a war between him and the killer's older brother (Garrett Hedlund).

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Critics Consensus

A nonsensical plot and an absurd amount of violence make this revenge pic gratuitous and overwrought.

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Mark Bourne

Film.com

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.

Jan 8, 2008

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Joshua Katzman

Chicago Reader

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

Dec 3, 2007

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Marjorie Baumgarten

Austin Chronicle

The graininess of the film generally makes everything look as ugly as it feels. Death Sentence deserves no reprieve.

Rated: 1/5

Sep 15, 2007

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Forrest Hartman

Reno Gazette-Journal

Once Death Sentence reaches the mid-point of the second act, it has become so ludicrous that Wan's excess is more likely to draw laughs than tears.

Sep 13, 2023

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Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

In all honesty, I didn't expect much from the film and I didn't get much.

Rated: 1.5/4.0

Sep 5, 2020

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Fred Topel

We Live Entertainment

Death Sentence shows there's even more to [revenge] than your own downfall. The cycle you get into spirals out of control. Perhaps it's more emblematic of Gandhi's statement 'an eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.'

Sep 10, 2017

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Fulo P

Mediocre acting, shallow characters, underwhelming plot credits scene was okay i guess

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

11/01/25

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Calvin T

It was okay but was like "Death Wish" which was 100x better

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

10/19/25

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michael p

A story of a father who loses his son to gang violence. This movie had potential other than the script was badly written. Some of the lines were idiotic that a non writer like myself could have done better. If you have nothing better to watch (Almost anything) then check it out.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

10/14/25

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Mark S

A man who watched his child being murdered by a delinquent in a gang! The police reaction is the most ridiculous thing about the film, and there is plenty ridiculous aspects to choose from. This director will be widely avoided in future choices of entertainment. Probably the worst film of Bacon's career.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

08/19/25

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Daniel C. M

A visceral and entertaining vigilante action thriller that unfortunately does not deliver as much as it could, but also tries to deliver a very muddled and "lost" message. Still, it has pretty good action sequences.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

07/30/25

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Pedro Henrique C

Death Sentence (2007) is quite confusing, how can a guy who works in a company, become a brutal killer? The direction of James Wan it's boring and sad. Just the beginning is a little cool.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

08/16/25

Full Review

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James Wan

Director

Kevin Bacon

Nick Hume

Garrett Hedlund

Billy Darly

Kelly Preston

Helen Hume

Aisha Tyler

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Synopsis

Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) is on his way home from a hockey game with his son, Brendan, and stops for gasoline. Helplessly he sees a street thug kill Brendan while robbing the station. Believing the justice system will fail him, Nick goes after the killer himself, setting off a war between him and the killer's older brother (Garrett Hedlund).

Director: James Wan
Producer: Ashok Amritraj, Howard Baldwin, Karen Elise Baldwin
Screenwriter: Ian Mackenzie Jeffers
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Production Co: Twentieth Century Fox
Rating: R (Strong Bloody Brutal Violence|Pervasive Language)
Genre: Mystery & Thriller, Action, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 31, 2007, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 18, 2012
Box Office (Gross USA): $9.5M
Runtime: 1h 50m
Sound Mix: Dolby SRD, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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