by rick grant rickgrant01@comcast.net
B Rated R 110 min
This cautionary tale gives viewers a vicarious revenge satisfaction. It’s a healthy way to feel the pain and sorrow, then the regret of vigilante justice. The story is a violent trip into a father’s hellish grief after his son is brutally murdered in a gang initiation. Nick Hume (Kevin Bacon) is a risk management executive for a large insurance company. He is the model of the American dream. He has a lovely wife Helen (Kelly Preston) and two fine boys – the younger, Lucas, and Brendan, a talented hockey player.
Filmmaker James Wan created an ultra-violent action mosaic with typically Hong Kong-styled overkill. However, the action scenes are like a ballet of gun gags, blood splatter, and killing as two opposing forces clash and bodies pile up. The story opens with Nick leading an idyllic life in the suburbs. But the scenario underscores the fact that random violence is everywhere and no one is immune. Wan’s style is brutal, in-your-face terror.
Nick is happy and looking forward to his son Brendan’s graduation from high school. One night while driving Brendan home from a hockey game, they stop at a gas station/convenience store. Brendan goes into the store to get a snack. A gang of thugs walks in with shotguns and machetes. Without uttering a word, they kill the clerk. The miscreants want to make it look like a robbery gone bad so a new gang member can make his bones by killing an innocent citizen. Using a machete, the initiate slits Brendan’s throat and they split. Nick is left to try to save his son’s life, but he dies in the hospital.
Of course, the Hume family is thrown into a tailspin of grief and anger. Nick is the only witness and the case against the killer is weak. The DA wants to make a plea bargain rather than risk the case going to a jury. It means that the killer, Joe Darley (Matthew O’Leary), will only serve ten years with the possibility of parole. Nick doesn’t like the deal, so when he’s asked to testify, he changes his mind and says he can’t be sure that it was Joe. Consequently, the judge dismisses the case.
The terrible anger and grief are boiling in Nick’s gut as he goes home and retrieves a hunting knife from his workshop. He had previously followed the gang members back to their headquarters in a dingy old factory building, so now he must decide whether to carry out his plan to kill Joe Darley. Weighing the fact that Joe is a free man, he makes his decision, laying in wait for Joe to come out of the building. Soon, he gets his chance and attacks Darley with a knife.
Nick has crossed the line, but what he had not counted on was the gang members finding out it was him who killed their brother-in-arms. Joe’s brother, Billy Darley, vows to get even. Yes, Nick has started a war, and a police detective, Det. Wallis (Aysa Tyler) has figured out what happened. Nick asks for police protection from the gang. Det. Wallis wants Nick to fess-up to his crime. Nick skirts the issue to get protection for his family. But what he doesn’t count on is the viciousness with which the gang comes after him and his family.
The gang, led by Billy Darley, will stop at nothing to kill Nick and his family, even if it means killing the cops guarding Nick’s house. They invade the home like commandos, overwhelming Nick. Although he gets some of them, they shoot him, his wife, and the remaining child. Nick wakes up in the hospital. Now, somehow he must finish his mission, despite what he’s done. Det. Wallis gets Nick to confess that he killed Joe Darley. But he’s too sick to arrest. This sets off another chain of events that builds momentum to the grand finale of blood and death, which Wan staged like an orchestra building the crescendo to the finale.
Viewers will cringe at the stark violence, but they will also feel the revenge motivation burning in Nick’s soul. The key to this story is a line from the script. “There is no solution to this equation. It will never be equal.” That’s why we have laws and police to enforce them. Otherwise, the streets would be chaos. For Nick, his solution gave him no peace of mind–just more sorrow and grief.
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EU Critic’s Choice Awards
