When I saw it in the theater, Death Sentence felt like a missed opportunity at best, but I never would have guessed it would have been so completely dismissed by audiences nationwide. Far worse movies made much more money in 2007. Caught at the end of the summer and blown away by a higher-than-average level of quality in September, Death Sentence couldn't even make $10 million domestically. The film has some serious problems, most notably in its bizarre tone shifts, but when it works, it's a well-made thriller that features yet another fantastic performance from Kevin Bacon. If you like your drama dark (and even darker than in theaters considering ten unrated minutes have been reinserted), Death Sentence could be a pleasant surprise at the video store this winter. Kevin Bacon plays Nick Hume, a typical white-collar family man who finds himself stuck in a gang war after his son gets his throat cut as a part of a gang initiation. When it looks like his son's killer might only do a couple years behind bars, Nick takes action into his own hands and the bullets start flying.

Kevin Bacon has been one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood for nearly two decades. JFK, Murder in the First, Mystic River, Rails and Ties, and now Death Sentence - he's good in every film he's in and often great. Sadly, he doesn't make the best choices and can often be the best thing about his flicks. As you might expect, someone as interesting as Bacon makes for a great interview. The nearly half-hour one on the DVD - "Life After Film School with Kevin Bacon" - is a must-have for any fan of this excellent actor.

Am I the only one who doesn't get the webisode craze? With all the excellent content out there on DVD and cable, why are people watching mini-featurettes that barely go behind-the-scenes of a movie like Death Sentence? It's nice that they were included just because it would seem that all available content should be, but their existence in the first place is still kind of a mystery to me.

Just based on its box office gross, most people who stumble across Death Sentence at the video store this month won't have seen it. Most of them probably won't even have heard of it considering how quickly it was in theaters and gone. But thrillers and action movies do well on DVD, so you can expect Death Sentence to have a decent life on the home market. See it for Bacon - both in the film and the interview on the DVD. Just don't be surprised if, yet again, you wish everything around him was just as good.