Death Sentence is a 2007 American vigilante action thriller film directed by James Wan and starring Kevin Bacon as Nick Hume, a man who takes the law into his own hands after his son is murdered by a gang member as an initiation ritual; Hume must then protect his family from the gang's resulting vengeance. The film is loosely based on the 1975 novel of the same name by Brian Garfield; although the novel is a sequel to Garfield's Death Wish, the film is unconnected to the previous Death Wish film series.
Death Sentence was released by 20th Century Fox on August 31, 2007, and was released on DVD on January 8, 2008. It was a box-office bomb earning $16 million against a $20 million budget, and received negative reviews from critics, who criticized the graphic violence and plot.
Plot
Nick Hume, a businessman living in Columbia, South Carolina, goes to watch his son Brendan's hockey game. As they're driving home, they stop at a gas station in a bad part of town. During an apparent robbery of the gas station, Joe Darley, a new gang member, slices Brendan's throat with a machete. Nick ambushes the thugs, pulls off Joe's mask and sees his face. Joe escapes, only to get hit by a car. Nick rushes Brendan to the hospital, where he dies. Lucas, Nick's younger and less charismatic son, suffers survivor guilt.
Nick identifies Joe in a police line-up but is outraged when the district attorney tells him that the defense will cut a deal for a light sentence since there is not enough evidence to take the case to trial. At a pre-trial hearing, Nick recants his identification so Joe will go free. After following the gang to their hideout, Nick waits until Joe is alone and stabs him to death. The gang leader, Billy, wants revenge. One of the gang members says his sister saw a man in a suit on the night when Joe was killed. Confirming it was Nick from a newspaper picture, they ambush him on the street. He is chased to a parkade. He manages to stay hidden, and runs up the parkade levels, jumping on vehicles as he goes. The alarms from the cars are going off which seems to confuse Billy and his gang. Nick ends up on the top level where a gang member is closing in. Nick fights for his life, and ends up trapped in a car with the guy. As the gear shift is hit into "neutral" the car rolls to the edge of the parkade. Nick escapes just in time, but the gang member plummets to his death. Nick finds his own car and drives home. Another of the gang members arrives at Nick's office to deliver a suitcase he dropped during the chase. Nick calls a phone number found in the case, which belongs to Billy. Billy warns that Nick has bought a "death sentence" for his family, revealing that Joe was his brother. Nick immediately calls Jessica Wallis, the detective assigned to Brendan's case, who is already aware of what Nick started. Jessica grants Nick's family police protection and issues APBs on Billy and his gang. That night, the officers at Nick's house are stealthily killed, but by the time Nick realizes, he finds the gang members are in the house. They attack and subdue Nick, then drag Helen and Lucas downstairs to shoot them. Helen dies while Nick and Lucas are hospitalized.
After Jessica gives a speech that wars are never settled, Nick forces his way to the ward where Lucas is in a coma. Nick apologizes for not being a better father, then escapes through a hospital window to go after the remaining gang members, obtaining guns from a black market gun dealer named Bones, who, at the conclusion of their transaction, reveals himself as Billy's father. Nick tracks down Heco, a member of the gang, and interrogates him about where the other members are, learning their lair is an abandoned mental hospital that they call "The Office." He forces Heco at gunpoint to call Billy's cell phone and executes him while Billy is listening. Bones confronts Billy, who kills Bones. Nick heads to "The Office" to wipe out the surviving gang. After a shootout, he and Billy encounter and seriously wound each other in the ex-hospital's chapel. Sitting on the same pew, Billy claims that he turned Nick into a vicious cold-blooded killer just like him. Nick pulls out his revolver and asks Billy if he's ready, as Billy sheds a tear before Nick ends his life. With his family now avenged, Nick returns home, watches his own family's movies and awaits his inevitable arrest. When she arrives, Jessica informs him that Lucas has improved and will now live.
Alternative ending
In the extended version of the film, Nick succumbs to his injuries.