A white-collar revenge fantasy in the vein of DEATH WISH (and based on a novel by the same author Brian Garfield) DEATH SENTENCE ponders the nature and limits of retribution asking if murder can ever be justified. Director James Wan (SAW) delivers a high-end exploitation film complete with a washed-out grainy appearance and some startling violence but with complex thrilling action sequences.

Kevin Bacon is Nick Hume a successful businessman with two children and a lovely wife (Kelly Preston). While driving home from his older college-bound son's hockey game Nick must pull into a gas station in a tough part of town. When the boy goes into the store to buy a drink his throat is slit during a bloody robbery attempt. Nick identifies the killer but with him as the only witness the case is unable to go to trial. Discovering that the murder was merely a gang initiation Nick is pushed over the edge taking on the deadly gang headed by the fierce Billy Darley (Garrett Hedlund). Payback be...