Death Sentence

The latest from Saw director James Wan misses a few beats and lands with a lifeless thud in the dud category. It’s disappointing, too, considering it gets off to a heart-wrenching start. Kevin Bacon plays Nick Hume, a happy-go-lucky father, husband and risk assessor. Both happy and lucky fall by the wayside when Nick’s eldest, Brendan, is murdered in a gas-station hold-up as part of a gang initiation. Emotions run high for about 10 minutes after the act. Then everything goes downhill. Bacon is convincing enough, even with his character’s overnight 180 from CEO and family man to full-on felon. The rest of the cast, however, can’t do much to save their flat roles. The biggest flop comes from Aisha Tyler’s Det. Wallace. It’s as if the filmmakers couldn’t figure out what they wanted from her character, because one minute she’s scolding Nick; the next she’s consoling him. Perhaps the movie’s only saving grace is its appearance. The camerawork and special effects are visually extreme, but fantastic. Extreme angles, extreme lighting and even extremely gorey gunshot wounds add character to this otherwise lifeless film.