Watch Eye for an Eye For Free

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

The plot is ok, although there is no way that the suspect (Keifer Sutherland) would have had his case dismissed at the very beginning of the movie based just on the technicality of the defence not having been given evidence up front - it would have gone further than that given that the DNA evidence was strong.Sally Field is ok - but her acting is a bit forced at times. I agree with another reviewer - Ed Harris was a bad choice and totally ruins the film. In no way, shape, or form is he the stepfather. There is no chemistry between him and Field and his acting is just totally unbelievable.

This is the story of Karen McCann a loving wife and mother who seeks her own justice when the court system frees her daughter's killer. I have read the reviews of this movie, and I'm disappointed with some reviews. This movie is a brilliant piece of cinema. There are some plot holes, but overall this movie is superb. I will say this the opening rape scene of Karen's daughter is horrifying to watch. To be honest Every time I watch this movie I try to skip that part. However, if you watch this movie for the first time I feel you would be cheating yourself out of feeling hate and anger when the court releases the killer. The characters all develop so well! Especially the killer Robert Doob. Kiefer Sutherland is so good! His opening line in his performance comes at the case scene when he gets released, and he stares right in the eyes of Karen's eyes and says, "Sssssssssorry." He was mocking the fact that her daughter had a stutter. It gives you chills. Lastly, Sally Field is absolutely astounding she may not have gotten an Oscar out of this performance, but I feel any other actress who would have to give this performance could never do as good as she does! The same goes for Kiefer I feel he needed to see a therapist or something after this performance. If you have not seen this movie you need to!

Sally Fields does a good job with this movie as a revenge seeking mother of a teenage daughter who's been raped and murdered. I suppose to make this worth watching, she has to do a good job with this. The story itself has been done over and over: seeking revenge after a violent crime because the justice system has failed. That's a pretty cliché type of situation and story, so there's not really a great deal to recommend this as far as originality is concerned. But Fields is good, and Kiefer Sutherland is appropriately creepy and threatening as the rapist/murderer. The portrayal of the rape of Karen's daughter was terrifying, but (thankfully) not especially graphic.) The same could be said for the later rape committed by Sutherland's Doob. The movie, in my opinion, also makes a fair point about the justice system leaning too far on the side of defending the rights of obviously guilty criminals at the expense of actually dispensing justice for their victims. I understand the need to protect the rights of the accused, but there does have to be a balance, and that balance is sometimes lost in the system that we have.I was kind of put off by the "group" the McCann's attended for people who had lost loved ones to violence. To each his or her own, I suppose, but I can't imagine that sitting around night after night talking about the same thing over and over and over again is really going to help anyone move on, and I wasn't convinced by the "vigilante organization" aspect of this.I have to say, though, that I did like the ending. What I was finding distasteful up to this point was that Karen was going to turn vigilante, and by so doing she'd be be risking losing her other daughter as well by ending up in prison, which might have satisfied her own desire for revenge but would have been very selfish toward the younger daughter. So, the way she played things, she made sure that (a) she'd get her revenge, but (b) that she wouldn't lose anything more by doing it. So, the ending worked for me. Overall, I found this a pretty good watch. (7/10)

Considering the calibre of the cast and director, Eye For An Eye is a rather low key affair. It tells a familiar story - rapist/murderer goes free through legal loophole, bereaved parent pursues vengeance/justice - and does so reasonably well.Some might think Keifer Sutherland's villain is one dimensional and overstated - I suspect not. Some might think the reactions of Sally Field and Ed Harris as parents of the murdered girl are unrealistic - the answer here must be whether they are credible, and I think they are credible possible reactions. No two people will react the same way, and none of us knows what we would do unless it happens to us (and I profoundly hope it does not happen to anyone reading this).Ultimately, though, despite decent performances and a satisfactory (though somewhat perfunctory) conclusion, the emotional intensity of the opening is not really sustained, and the film peters out in a welter of obviousness.