Customer Reviews

Eye for an Eye

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

In this movie,Sally Field does an EXCELLENT job portraying an anguished mom who is seeking justice for the brutal rape and murder of her teenaged daughter. And Keifer Sutherland is absolutely HATEABLE in HIS role as the depraved, scumbag murderer, (which I guess proves that he did an EXCELLENT job, as well)! This film pokes fun of the American justice system: It's obvious that Sutherland's character committed the vicious rape and murder, (along with a SUBSEQUENT rape and murder!), but is allowed to go free due to some legal mumbo-jumbo technicality! You really feel Feild's character's rage at the injustice of it all, as she decides to get her OWN revenge on the brutal killer, (who actually "taunts" her in court)! Warning: The rape scenes in this movie are VERY harsh and realistic, but all in all, an EXCELLENT, suspense-filled movie, with EXCELLENT acting. In my opinion, this is one movie that is DEFINITELY worth seeing, AND owning!

The casting in this film in spectacular. The pacing is excellent. The direction is masterful. What more could you ask for in a dramatic thriller?

Sally Field is ideal for the role of a mother who's seventeen-year-old daughter is brutally raped and murdered. Ed Harris plays her supportive husband in an average role for him, but he still gets the point across. And Keifer Sutherland - well, nobody can play a vicious scumbag more brilliantly than Sutherland.

However, I have a word to the wise: This film is not for the queasy. The rape scenes are harsh and brutal and, sometimes, you have to wonder why Sutherland would take such an awful role. However, as an audience member watching the film, I could not pick out a better actor I would rather hate than Keifer Sutherland. And the hatred is strong for him in this film. Although 'Eye For An Eye' is not mysterious in any way and has hardly any made-you-jump thrills, it's a thriller just the same. Most of this is brought about masterfully by the remarkable acting, especially that of Field and Sutherland.

I can't say that I'm a big fan of Sally Field. However, she's perfect in this movie. An agonized mother, out to seek revenge. It's a typical story which is brought over-the-top by a great director and a masterful Academy Award Winning actress. The emotional tension brought to the screen kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time through. Another special trait about 'Eye For An Eye' is that it never gets old. The tension is always there. No matter how many times you've watched it.

Overall, this thriller is the very definition of what a top-notch thriller is about. The acting really brought it to life, and that's what's so enjoyable. I'd have to give Sally 5 stars on this one, as well as Keifer, and Ed Harris 3 stars for being there as a solid supporting actor. The movie itself gets 4, not for originality, but for the story that was immediately brought to life by the actors and actresses in it.

...and I am not kidding. Very hard to watch a pretty girl get raped and beating to death. Just not my thing. After five years I still can't watch the the opening of this film. Maybe I'm just squemish or maybe this film really honestly shows the ugly side of humanity. Very hard pounding for an opening. Sally Field shows her full acting chops in this film. Especially when she calls her daugther and hears her being attacked and she's running up and down screaming for help. I still get goosebumps thinking about it. The opening of this film and the ending are worth it to buy it. Just don't and this is a WARNING, don't let kids watch this film. It's that powerful and that disturbing to watch. I was just dumbfounded when I realized that this film was not recieved with praise when it opened or that it didn't do well at the box-office either. Now why is that. Okay granted the opening of this film is hard to watch. But the story is great and actors are A-list, not to mention there acting. Maybe it was actually showing that a woman with a gun went out of her way to avenge the rape and muder of her daughter. After the justice system failed her. Hell, I would do it too. I would have done the same thing she did. Even if the system put him in jail.

Wow, Kiefer Sutherland delivers one of the most powerful performances ever to come to the big screen. I always loved Kiefer's films, and always thought he played a great villan. Freeway, A Time To Kill, and even in A Few Good Men he played a nasty s.o.b., but never had I seen him this downright horrible. He is such a brilliant actor and can play a wide range of characters(as we have seen in the tv show 24). Kiefer plays Robert Doob in the film Eye For An Eye, a white trash serial rapist who prays on women of all ages. Doob is a truely evil person and has no conscience what so ever, which makes him all the more scary. The movie opens with us being introduced to the McCann family. Karen(Sally Field) and Mack(Ed Harris) live in a big house with their two daughters Julie(Olivia Burnette) and Ashley. They are getting the house ready for Ashley's birthday party. Julie is left alone in the house and is putting up decorations, when Karen calls. Karen tells her that she is going to be late because she is stuck in traffic. Then the doorbell rings, and Julie tells her mom to hold on and opens the door. The scene that follows is quite upsetting, and is where we are introduced to Robert Doob. Doob brutally attacks Julie while Karen is still on the phone and can hear everything. The physical violence isn't that bad since the scene jumps around a lot, but the emotional tension is unbearable. I think that the helpless feeling Karen experiences as she runs up to every car around her to ask for help, and for someone to call the police, is what hits us the hardest. The vision of the balloons floating away from inside Karens car, out the open door, then to the sky, while Doob is raping and killing the helpless girl is, in my opinion, a subliminal reference to the end of innocence and the loss of life. It is something that you won't soon forget. The story moves foward to an investigation of the crime by Det. Denillo(Joe Mantegna), as Karen and Max try to deal with what has happened. The Det. calls them one morning and tells them they have a suspect in custody, Robert Doob. But when he goes to trial, he is dismissed on an error of the state. But before he leaves the courtroom, he assures the McCann's that he is definately responsable by mimicing their daughter's stutter saying, sasasasa...sorry. After that, Karen becomes obsessed with catching him in another crime so he could finally be brought to justice. She begins to follow him, and at one point see's him peeping on a lady and urinating on her lawn. She goes to the Det. to tell him that they have to pick this guy up, but the Det. tells her to stay away from Robert Doob and that there is nothing they can do right now. Karen then seeks help from a couple men at her counciling sessions. They are a vigilante group that takes justice into their own hands, when the system fails to. They teach Karen to shoot a gun and set up the hit for her, but she has to pull the trigger herself. At first she says she can do it, but then she backs out when she finds out that a friend of hers at the meetings is really a undercover FBI agent investigating vigilante activity. Then she finds out that Robert Doob has been talking to her other daughter Ashley. She goes to his apartment to send a message and finds a ceramic cookie that Ashley had made at school in his dresser. So she trashes his apartment in an attempt to lure him to her house for a final showdown. I won't tell you how the movie ends, you have to see it for yourself. I didn't mention Ed Harris much because he really has a small role in the film, although he does a great job with the parts he has. Everyone in this movie is excellent, even Beverly D'Angelo who plays Dolly Green, Karen's friend at her job, is great. I hope to see more of Kiefer Sutherland playing nasty roles like this in the future, he really was one of the most heartless characters I have ever seen...

i absolutely love this film, it's fantastic. Kiefer Sutherland plays a brilliant bad guy and shows us that he has the talent to switch roles. He is pure evil in this film but in my opinion he's brilliant. Sally Field plays a very moving part and plays the part of the grieving mother amazingly. The rape scenes are very brutal but the film itself raises very important issues of parental grieving and the demand for justice. One of my favourite films yet. Definitely worth a watch.

Basically because I am one of those people.

To a person like me, who really hates to see young beautiful teenage girls killed mercilessly by heartless so called "men", this movie turned my stomach the day I saw the preview for the first time.

When I finally watched this movie my one and only time ever, I couldn't sleep the rest of the night. Just the recurring thought of Julie (Karen's daughter) being mercilessly beaten and murdered by Robert Doob (Kiefer) and he gets away with it makes me ill and strengthens my love and desire to protect women like that.

If there's anybody else out there like me considering this movie, hear me out. This is not for you. It's a well made movie, but the plot will make you ill.

After her daughter is brutally raped and murdered, parents Karen and Mack McCann (Sally Field and Ed Harris) must go through the various levels of grieving before going on with their lives. When rapist/murderer Robert Doob (Kiefer Sutherland) is released on a technicality, the parents are rightfully appalled. Understandably enraged, Mack lunges at Doob while Karen sinks into a deep depression. Karen later joins a support group for parents whose children have been murdered, and she finds some solace in the company. What she doesn't find is a resolution, however, and it's not until she meets Sidney Hughes (Phillip Baker Hall) - a fellow parent who believes in harsh retribution outside the courthouse - that she can channel her inner Charles Bronson and seek vengeance.

One of the best acting duos I've seen on film, Field and Harris emote like no other pair. Their commitment to the grief feels completely real, and the effort exudes from each anguished wrinkle in their faces. Similarly, Kiefer Sutherland is superb in his role as revolting sociopath. Sandwiched between his deranged pervert from Freeway and his rapist racist combo in A Time to Kill, it's easy to see this as his evil virtuoso period.

The entire second act is tense, as Karen's obsession takes over her life. It's how most with a murdered family member would want to seek revenge. The plot is not terribly original, but it's performed with enough conviction that it is easily overlooked. With a completely satisfying and fulfilling resolution, this is how we all wish reality and karma would play out...just like DEATH WISH.

Jason Elin

The acting by both Field and Sutherland is superb and the film well made.Parents shuld be careful, always. Teenagers should not live such a "free" life. The world
is not a kind place. And the laws should be tougher on low life people. Once a person is killed, there is no return.

Eye For An Eye is one of those films where you know through the whole movie who the killer is but it still surprises you through the whole movie.Sally Field plays a mother who is talking to her daughter on the phone when her daughter explains she has to answer the door.After that we see and hear screaming and a man who you clearly see as Kiefer Sutherland raping and torturing her.The mother now devestated begins to seek revenge on the man when the case goes to trial but is botched by a dumb attorney.
Now the man is walking the streets even though he raped and murdered her daughter.She starts by just spying on the man watching him pick his next target,but when he realizes it things do get sort of ugly.The supporting cast which includes Ed Harris as the husband are characters which aren't even really needed for they could take all of Harris scenes out and wouldn't have to edit any thing else.But the film is a great thriller with great performances by Field and Sutherland.

I have watched this movie a dozen times and I am still amazed at how "Karen" (Sally Field) carries out the execution of her daughter's rapist/murderer. Although the plot of the movie revolves around a most unpleasant subject, it was a dose of reality and really hits home because this does happen in real life and how many never pay for their crime due to a technicality. This movie shows Sally Field at her best.