Eye for an Eye (B- or 2.5/4 stars)
Beleaguered working mom, Karen McCann (Sally Field), is stuck in traffic en route to her Santa Monica home, talking on the phone to her teen daughter, Julie (Olivia Burnette), at home, when she hears an intruder break into the house, rape & murder her child in 'Eye for an Eye', a bleak, grim, exploitative thriller in the vein of Death Wish; it is directed by John Schlesinger (of Midnight Cowboy, Sunday Bloody Sunday), and based on a novel by Erika Holzer. Although the killer, low-life sleazeball, Robert Doob (Kiefer Sutherland), is arrested & clearly guilty, a legal technicality leads to his shocking release.
To this, Karen is absolutely stricken with grief & rage {imagine having heard all of that on the phone!}. Furthermore, Doob goes on to terrorize & actually kill again. Despite the best efforts of her patient husband, Mack (Ed Harris), a sympathetic detective, Sgt. Denillo (Joe Mantegna), & a victims'-rights counselor (Charlayne Woodard) to keep Karen calm ... she becomes absolutely obsessed with taking vigilante revenge on the assailant. And when Robert Doob starts to feel Karen's increased probing of him, he cranks up the pressure on her until their climactic, savage showdown. Chaos ensues.
The plot is highly intriguing, several scenes are quite suspenseful, & I think we can all identify with Karen's anger. We have seen a variation of this type of story before, but the difference here is that it is a mother hell bent on avenging her poor daughter. That is an interesting concept. And who doesn't want to see little Sally Field go full-on vigilante on someone as rotten to the core as Doob? I think we all would have feelings or visions of finding justice by taking the law into our own hands to kill the person responsible for the vicious murder of a child. We may not execute it, but we'd for sure think it.
Sally Field performs with dogged conviction. Ed Harris is always good. Kiefer Sutherland is despicable as the rapist murderer who cares not for any living thing; be that an animal, teen, or mother, etc. If I have issues with this film they would be: a) after the 1st scene or 2, Field & Harris aren't exactly acting like they had just lost their child to a terrifying rape/murder. And b) this is little more than a contrived, distasteful B movie thriller that is bolstered by the star performance of Sally Field & the enticing revenge angle. This film is sure to rev up your emotions, but it's all a touch too overwrought, ugly & ridiculous to be taken seriously. On a surface level, for a one-time watch, you'll likely be hooked. But you'll likely never want to see it again.
To this, Karen is absolutely stricken with grief & rage {imagine having heard all of that on the phone!}. Furthermore, Doob goes on to terrorize & actually kill again. Despite the best efforts of her patient husband, Mack (Ed Harris), a sympathetic detective, Sgt. Denillo (Joe Mantegna), & a victims'-rights counselor (Charlayne Woodard) to keep Karen calm ... she becomes absolutely obsessed with taking vigilante revenge on the assailant. And when Robert Doob starts to feel Karen's increased probing of him, he cranks up the pressure on her until their climactic, savage showdown. Chaos ensues.
The plot is highly intriguing, several scenes are quite suspenseful, & I think we can all identify with Karen's anger. We have seen a variation of this type of story before, but the difference here is that it is a mother hell bent on avenging her poor daughter. That is an interesting concept. And who doesn't want to see little Sally Field go full-on vigilante on someone as rotten to the core as Doob? I think we all would have feelings or visions of finding justice by taking the law into our own hands to kill the person responsible for the vicious murder of a child. We may not execute it, but we'd for sure think it.
Sally Field performs with dogged conviction. Ed Harris is always good. Kiefer Sutherland is despicable as the rapist murderer who cares not for any living thing; be that an animal, teen, or mother, etc. If I have issues with this film they would be: a) after the 1st scene or 2, Field & Harris aren't exactly acting like they had just lost their child to a terrifying rape/murder. And b) this is little more than a contrived, distasteful B movie thriller that is bolstered by the star performance of Sally Field & the enticing revenge angle. This film is sure to rev up your emotions, but it's all a touch too overwrought, ugly & ridiculous to be taken seriously. On a surface level, for a one-time watch, you'll likely be hooked. But you'll likely never want to see it again.