User Reviews

This is literally the first time I've ever felt the need to write a review WHILE the movie is still playing on my tv. The courtroom scene alone did it in for me. A woman brutally raped by 4 men. Her daughter a witness (almost a victim herself) identifies the rapists. And at NO point during the trial did it even remotely look like anyone was on her side. From a jack@$$ judge to a lawyer making up ridiculous stories that are simply...believed without question. And to top it off...the entire courtroom applauds?? ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Then, instead of laying low, the rapists continue to antagonize and reek havoc like they're untouchable. Even loudly admitting to their crime. I've always liked Nicolas Cage, but he lost a ton of credibility for even touching this bs fest.

Straight to the point - this is a dreadful film. It has all the subtlety and breadth of a 3-year-old child's crayon drawing. Without exception, the support cast are absolutely awful in this. Their performances are clichéd, highly predictable and as wooden as a 2 by 4. The direction is unenthusiastic and the editing looks like it was done using Windows XP.

The story-line is something we've all seen a thousand times before - only, even the worst version of this hackneyed story is better than this. Every prejudice you can imagine is wheeled out, beaten with a stick until it screams 'stop, stop', and yet, is beaten again. I know we live in age of the 7-second attention span but this film is a waste of 6 of them.

Don't go to see it. And, sure as heck, don't pay money to see it.

Now This Was A Good Movie ... Nicholas Cage Is A Cop Who Dishes Out "Justice" (I Thought It Was) Against Four Guys Who Brutally Assaulted A Woman In Front Of Her 10 Year Old Daughter ... The Movie Gives The Law Every Opportunity To Work ... When The Law Doesn't Work "Justice" (I Thought It Was) Is Fast, Hard And Brutal ... A Simple Story With Good Acting ... The Director Did A Marvelous Job Of Keeping Everything ... Director Johnny Martin Was The Stunt Coordinator For The Excellent Movie "I Am Wrath" (John Travolta) ...

The courtroom scenes in this show ruined the show. The clapping and cheering in a courtroom would NEVER be accepted.

The outbursts by the people on both sides of this case would NEVER be allowed to happen.

Anna Hutchinson = horrible acting

Don Johnson = good job of playing a sleazy attorney

Nicholas Cage = well he is as always exactly what you expect (In fairness I am a fan so I may be prejudicial)

Talitha Bateman = she does a good job in this film overall.

There is nothing new in this film, nothing that has not been done in another film and in many cases done better. There are many things wrong with this film but the absolutely worst thing about this film is the writing. The writers did such an absolutely horrible job with this script that I am shocked that it has a 5 star rating.

Teena is sexually assaulted after a party by four addicts while her 12-year- old daughter witnesses the crime.

After a defence attorney manipulates the law to his clients' advantage, the criminals are set free, much to the disgust of Officer John Dromoor, who seeks revenge, after having an intimate conversation with the victim....

This could have been Cage in full Bad Leuitenant mode here, he could have upped the craziness that he is famous for right up to eleven, after all, vengeance knows no bounds.

But it's a shame then that he's playing it straight all the way through the film, because this could have been a wonderful return to form from the Cage, he's been showing his crazy side just lately in films like Dog Eat Dog, Southern Fury, and Army Of One.

Those were not the greatest films in the world, but it showed that Cage doesn't like to slum in his films, and when he finds a project that is more than a 'debt clearance' payday, he's on top of his game.

Don Johnson pops up as the strangest Attorney i've seen in a long time, camp, chewing scenery, and being an all around scumbag.

It's still very watchable though, the title is a little misleading though if you don't think outside of the box. Cage only really shares one scene with the victim, and that's at a bar, they talk, exchange numbers, and that's pretty much that for their interaction.

So we have Cage spending the rest of the film just looking slightly concerned throughout, but when the titular vengeance takes place, I was screaming at the film for Cage to go into a rage at the antagonists.

It's obviously a Death Wish type film, but i'm just disappointed that Cage didn't realise how dark and mentally unstable his character could have been.

There is a decent story in here somewhere. The writing is atrocious though. They always say "show dont tell" but literally every piece of characterization is dont through a line of descriptive dialogue. Nic Cage peers at a woman at the bar and the bar tender approaches, "Her names Teena, husband died of cancer a few years back, has a 6 year old daughter." Partner then approaches, "Man John, you are a war hero, purple heart, no family left in town and have 20 years as a police officer...why not just retire man....full pension." It is that awful. I mean one scene of Nic Cage taking his badge and gun off at his home would show us all we need to know about him...we never get that scene. Where does cage live? No clue. How'd his wife die? No clue. Does he have sons? He says at one point, "I never had a daughter"...kinda an odd thing to say if you dont have sons. This is just awful screenwriting. I mean there is literally no arc for any character. Cage shoots a criminal dead and is emotionless about it in the first scene...movie winds up with him killing criminals with no emotion. Never really get to know the woman well enough to see her do anything and the daughter is portrayed as strong throughout and never really changes. She tells her mom off, says no to drinking without a thought, she fights the criminals, fights one of the criminals sister, takes care of everything. Also she is 12? In real live 2 year olds have been interviewed to identify killers...a 12 year old with a broken arm isnt believed...which leads me to the most egregiously infuriating part of the movie...

There is a decent revenge tale in there, but it doesn't work with the comically bad plot, based on everyone in the town of Niagara being insane. A pretty single mother goes to a party at her boyfriends house and has a couple of beers. She walks home pretty much totally sober with her daughter. 4 guys jump out and beat and gang rape her repeatedly while her daughter watches. They leave her in a pool of her own blood and unconscious. They have DNA and the daughter positively identifies the men. Teena gains her memory back after coming out of her COMA and positively identifies them. Open and shut case clearly right? Nope. Whole town thinks Teena...the widow, whose lived in town at least since high school and was married to a factory worker in town, who is dating seemingly a popular guy in town and who is shown in her first inexplicable scene with a friend in a bar, who was with her daughter who has a broken arm and whose face is beaten and bruised...was a whore. Yep the defendants went with the, "She willingly had sex with us, and then the 100 lbs woman attacked us and we beat her to a bloody pulp after we all had sex with her." Their literal defense was "she was so drunk she doesnt remember" Uhh...even their defense describes a rape. If she is so intoxicated that she cant remember or control her actions...she is too intoxicated to consent.

Teena's boyfriend disappears for some reason (never explained) and makes a small cameo later when one of the rapists tells him in a crowded bar, "I am going to do to you, what i did to your girl." Yep...dead serious that happened. The rapists cat call the victim in the court room and the court cheers when Don Johnson (their lawyer) calls her a whore and says she is guilty of child abuse for having drunk consensual sex in a park in front of her daughter...Dont worry, the judge would surely step in and in no way allow a defense attorney to approach a rape victims child and call her a whore...nope wrong again...the judge corrects Nic Cage on his grammar, tells a woman who just got out of a coma to take off her sunglasses, overrules all objections to a lawyer calling a rape victim a whore in the court room and then later engages in an ex-parte hearing with Don Johnson...Yep, the whole towns gone insane. Thats the plot. Girl gets raped, Entire town is insane,Nic Cage kills the rapists in the least painful ways imaginable...bullets to the head...Half the people you want him to kill live at the end and the people he kills goes out so painlessly and effortlessly there is neither drama nor satisfaction. At one point Cage calls one to lure him to a hotel and there is a woman's voice on the line...its never explained if cage did a female voice, had a female talk or what the heck happened. The screenwriting is insane. I love Cage, but this was the worst written hack piece of trash I have ever seen. I watched it all because there were so many people i wanted to die in horrible ways and I kept thinking, "Maybe they just made all these people awful so Cage has more to kill", but nope...Doesnt happen