Eye for an Eye movie review - Aussieboyreviews
IS EYE FOR AN EYE YOUR TYPICAL REVENGE THRILLER?
Eye for an Eye; it may be typical, sometimes foreseeable, but the acting, frustration and revenge story keep you rooting. This is a movie on a mother taking justice into her own hands after the system fails.
Storyline
When the court lets the man who raped and murdered her 17-year-old daughter free without consequence, a woman decides to take justice into her own hands and make the man pay for his crimes.
Movie Images
Movie details
Director: John Schlesinger
Cast: Sally Field, Kiefer Sutherland, Ed Harris, Alexandra Kyle, Olivia Burnette, Joe Mantegna, Charlayne Woodard
Writer: Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver
Release Date (Australia): 25 July 1996
Runtime: 101 minutes/1h 41m
Genre: Drama, Crime, Thriller
Country: USA
Language: English
CONTENT GUIDE (warning: May contain spoilers)
Thematic content throughout the film includes sexual assault, murder and revenge. The film also contains disturbing depictions of sexual assault and autopsy photos.
The film contains scenes of strong violence, including women being raped by a man and a character being shot several times with accompanying blood detail.
The film features often aggressive use of the word “f**k” and its derivatives.
None.
The film contains mild nudity in the form of a woman’s upper breasts being viewed in a non-sexual context and a brief breasts nudity on a magazine.
The film contains two scenes of sexualised violence in the form of rape, as well as crude verbal sexual references and a depiction of a couple kissing passionately in bed.
mpaa rating
R (for language and disturbing violence which includes rape)
Aussie boy's thoughts
This would probably just be another typical, somewhat watchable and disposable revenge movie if it weren’t for very strong performances from the entire cast. This film has received some very mixed scores from critics and reviews stating that the film is “exploitive” of the issue it deals with, which is why some audiences absolutely hate it. If you can’t stand the fact that this movie looks at every parent’s worst nightmare and shifts a revenge aspect into it, then this film is obviously not for you.
Eye for an Eye centres on a mother played by Sally Field whose 17-year-old daughter is horrifically raped and murdered, and the court does not make the culprit pay for his crimes, which leads Field to the decision to take justice into her own hands. The rape/murder scenes are incredibly upsetting and hard to watch, the monstrous villain is easy to hate and the film really makes you root for the main character, which constructs a powerful and decently-satisfying revenge thriller worth watching, despite some significant details that’ll manage to crawl under your skin.
The flaws are forgivable due to the fact that the film doesn’t drag out forever before it kicks into the crime scene; it happens shortly and quickly, without wasting time but getting you into the setting. And it’s only a murder-mystery sort of movie until the killer is finally caught. Eye for an Eye focuses on justice, not catching the culprit. But the fact that he is set free infuriates you and that’s when the plot really begins. From there and on, it’s an extremely entertaining and captivating grief/revenge story.
The film’s antagonist and protagonist deliver the exact emotions the storyteller wants to ship out and make you feel, thanks to the performances of Sally Field and Kiefer Sutherland. Sutherland’s incredible acting in this movie makes you absolutely hate his character, so every scene involving him is extremely maddening and angering to watch. Field, on the other hand, delivers a very tough performance that makes you really care for her situation and desperately want sadistic justice by the end, which is where the film is satisfying, but not fulfilling enough.
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