Kevin Bacon's John Wick Replacement Resurfaces as a Streaming Hit 19 Years Later

Published Oct 26, 2026, 11:11 PM EDT Mitchell Brown is a Wisconsin-based writer, film fanatic, and graduate of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who has written for various publications covering film analysis, reviews (both classic and contemporary), and movie news. He's also a screenwriter, having written multiple spec scripts. When he's not watching movies, writing movies, or writing about the films he's already seen...no, that about covers it. James Wan has branched out from being one of the best horror filmmakers working today to also developing a solid track record as an action director; he has franchise entries like Furious 7 and the Aquaman duology in his filmography, plus a potential collaboration with Keanu Reeves in the works to remake the Korean crime-thriller The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil. He's become reputable in the action genre with his swift camerawork and choreography, but many forget that his first action movie arrived in 2007, back when he was known exclusively as the guy who made Saw, but before he had his next monster hit with Insidious. That movie was Death Sentence, starring Kevin Bacon. The story follows Nick Hume (Bacon), a run-of-the-mill nerdy dad who doesn't even swear when he gets cutoff in traffic (this is a fantasy film, apparently). Nick embarks on a quest for revenge when his teenage son Brendan (Stuart Lafferty) gets killed at a gas station during a gang initiation led by Billy Darley (Garrett Hedlund). While Nick's family is inconsolable from the loss, he decides to take matters into his own hands and go after the gang himself, not realizing how quickly things can escalate and the type of danger he's putting both himself and his family in. Based on that description, you'd probably think that this is another Death Wish rip-off — but in actuality, it's based on the novel of the same name by Brian Garfield, which itself was a sequel to Death Wish. It carries the themes from the original Death Wish novel, showing violence as deplorable, and the moral decline of an otherwise good person in the pursuit of revenge . . .while having exciting action scenes and over-the-top violence (you can do both, it's fine). It's hard to think of a variation of the Death Wish formula that hasn't been done yet, and even Wan's frequent collaborator Leigh Whannell (who, oddly enough, stars in this film, but didn't write it) would later write and direct the wildly underrated Upgrade, which plays with a similar revenge formula — with a little bit of RoboCop sprinkled in, too. Death Sentence gives the formula some dramatic flare, digging more into the endless cycle of violence, and shows the gradual fall of our main character. There's Meat to This Slice of Bacon Kevin Bacon is perfectly cast as a well-meaning dad who falls to the dark side because, as a performer, he has the aura of someone who'd probably be the nicest person you'd ever meet . . .but also seems like he knows the amount of lime you would need to cover the smell of a rotting corpse. He rides that line of being able to play charming heroes (like Val in Tremors) or terrifying villains (Nokes in Sleepers). As Nick, he's somewhere in the middle, and his fall from grace is unique among most revenge films because he doesn't just flip a switch and decide he wants to start killing people. He starts as a mourning father who sees what the loss of his son has done to his family. Nick is inconsolable (especially because it was done at the hands of Gary Giggles of all people), and decides to go after his son's killer. But after getting blood on his hands during his first altercation, he doesn't experience any catharsis and tries to pick up the pieces from there. It's only when the rest of the gang learn who he is and goes after him that he gets pulled back in. Most of the action scenes that follow are borne out of self-defense, with Nick fighting for his life or trying to escape, rather than seeking out trouble, which helps keep him sympathetic throughout. A Different Turn for James Wan Image via 20th Century Fox The action is also different from what you'd expect from the director of Saw. Despite being the guy whose franchise popularized torture porn for general audiences (which is more informed by the sequels), the violence and gore in Death Sentence is more in line with an '80s action movie, rather than feeling gratuitous to the point of being disturbing. Unlike the violence in Eli Roth's Death Wish remake, which is done with roughly the same approach as something out of Hostel, Wan plays into the fun of movie violence rather than the horror of it (a bad guy gets shot and flies through a window, if there's any debate about that). This is the last film that Wan shot on 35mm, and while it's not the same genre as Saw, it has a similar gritty aesthetic, especially when Nick is away from the clean and warm environments of his house or office, and finds himself in the seedier areas that the majority of the film takes place. It also has one of his earliest continuous takes, which he's since become known for, following Nick as he is evading the gang in a parking structure; the shot goes between levels from the outside, showing where he is in relation to them. It's an impressive set piece, and it builds the anxiety of the scene. Death Sentence is a lost entry in James Wan's stacked filmography, and probably the closest we'll ever get to a great Punisher movie. With a lean runtime of about 105 minutes, it's relentlessly paced, and self-aware of what its audience wants in a movie like this — down to a "buying guns" montage with John Goodman in one of his best performances with the least amount of screen time, followed by a "gearing up" montage where Kevin Bacon gets ready for battle. It's exactly what you'd want from an action-revenge thriller, and it's currently streaming on Tubi. Release Date August 31, 2007 Runtime 105 minutes Director James Wan Writers Ian Jeffers, Brian Garfield