"Death Sentence" a brutal, stylish thriller

"Death Sentence" is a violent revenge drama. That's Violent with a capitol "V." Rhyme that with "T," and that stands for "Taxi Driver," a movie that has nothing to do with "Death Sentence" except a graphic and gory ending sequence that the new movie follows nearly shot for shot. There's no apparent reason for this, but it sure looks cool to see scary punks getting fingers and legs blown off or flying away from the business end of a monster shotgun.

Kevin Bacon is a solid leading man as Nick Hume, a dedicated family guy with a sturdy career as a V.P. at a life-insurance company. He's spent his life analyzing death statistics, but the abstract becomes real one night when his golden-boy son Brendan (Stuart Lafferty) is brutally murdered in a random gang attack. The crazy gang is a mish-mash of races and weird tattoos.

The killing is an initiation hit for gang leader Billy's (Garrett Hedlund) younger brother Joe (Matt O'Leary), and the spoiled rich kid just happens to be the victim. Nick watches the whole thing in the film's first violent and quite well-staged sequence. Joe gets caught, but Nick is outraged when the D.A. only plans to go after a plea deal for three to five years. It's the best the attorney thinks he can get, but Nick wants blood, so he lets Joe walk away to his strange tribal gang.

In a paroxysm of nervous energy, Nick gets his blood revenge. But Billy's too smart to think this hit was random. With his mean streak and an eye that goes all twitchy when he's enraged, Billy starts a war. But it seems that Nick has hidden instincts that give him powers of violent intelligence he didn't know he had. Does he have tights on under his business suit?

Director James Wan loves to use a handheld camera for long takes that follow action. He stages another violent scene inside a parking garage after a long foot chase. The camera moves between levels as it follows Nick and Billy's gang on the hunt. This ends badly, too, as Nick knocks off another gang member in a car he sends flying off the garage roof (after sneaking out just in time himself).

The violence escalates to a vicious ending sequence, blocked with a delicious eye for design. As mentioned, it mimics the famous finale of "Taxi Driver," but for no apparent reason except as homage. It doesn't have the same kind of poetry, of course, but it's got style to burn and is more gruesome that any schlock-horror gorefest.

A big quibble is the use of home video to reveal backstory and expository details. If all movies forgot that home video existed as a means of filling in gaps, they'd be better off.

It should be mentioned that John Goodman pops in for a few funny scenes as a grimy crime boss with an untraceable accent. He takes great delight in the customer-service aspects of gun sales.

Ted Fry: tedfry@hotmail.com