Eye for an Eye (1996 film)

Last updated
Eye for an Eye
Eye for an Eye (1996 film) poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed by John Schlesinger
Screenplay by Amanda Silver
Rick Jaffa
Based onEye for an Eye
by Erika Holzer
Produced byMichael I. Levy
Starring
Cinematography Amir M. Mokri
Edited by Peter Honess
Music by James Newton Howard
Production
company
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • January 12, 1996 (1996-01-12)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million
Box office$26.9 million [1]

Eye for an Eye is a 1996 American psychological thriller film, directed by John Schlesinger and written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. It stars Sally Field, Kiefer Sutherland, Ed Harris, Beverly D'Angelo, Joe Mantegna and Cynthia Rothrock. The story was adapted from Erika Holzer's novel of the same name. The film opened on January 12, 1996.

Contents

Plot

Karen and Mack McCann are happily married with two daughters, seventeen-year-old Julie (from Karen's previous marriage) and six-year-old Megan. One afternoon while Karen is out shopping, Julie is violently raped and murdered, which Karen overhears on the phone. Detective Joe Denillo assures the McCanns there is enough DNA evidence to find and convict the killer, and encourages Karen to seek counselling.

At a support group, Karen meets other people who have suffered child bereavement, including Albert and Regina Gratz, and Sidney Hughes. During one meeting, Karen overhears Albert talking to Sidney about something which alarms Regina. Meanwhile, the DNA tests reveal Julie's killer to be Robert Doob, a delivery driver with a criminal record. However, at a pre-trial hearing, the judge dismisses the case because the defense did not receive a sample of the evidence for testing. Karen and Mack are distraught as Doob walks free.

While Mack is desperate to get back to a normal life, Karen becomes increasingly obsessed with Doob. She starts tailing him around town, learning where he lives and monitoring his activity while he goes out on deliveries. She attempts to warn one of his regular customers, but the woman only speaks Spanish and does not understand her. Karen later learns that the murderer of the Gratzes' son has been killed in a drive-by shooting just days after being released from prison. Angel, another lady in the support group, tells Karen the best way to get over her grief is to focus on having good experiences with her surviving daughter.

When Doob discovers Karen is stalking him, he shows up at Megan's school when Karen comes to pick her up, and threatens to harm Megan if she continues following him. Worried for Megan's safety, and with her sanity declining, Karen approaches Sidney, who admits to setting up the drive-by shooting. After Karen demands his help, he agrees to plan a hit on Doob, on the condition that she has to carry it out, which Karen agrees to. She joins a self-defense class, which increases her confidence, helps rekindle her sex life with Mack, and improves her relationship with Megan. However, after Karen receives a revolver from Sidney, Angel confesses that she is an undercover FBI agent investigating vigilante activity within the support group, and warns her not to go through with the hit. Not wanting to be a murderer herself, Karen calls Sidney and cancels the hit.

Soon after, the woman Karen tried to warn is raped and murdered by Doob, and he is arrested. To Karen's outrage, he is freed yet again due to a lack of admissible evidence, and she decides to take matters into her own hands. While Mack intends to take the family on vacation, Karen deliberately orchestrates a work emergency as an alibi that forces her to stay behind, telling him and Megan to go on ahead of her. She then sneaks into Doob's apartment while he is away and trashes it, knowing that he will realize she was responsible. That evening, Doob breaks into Karen's home, but she surprises him with the revolver she received from Sidney, and the two struggle before Karen gains the upper hand and kills him.

When the police arrive, Denillo tells Karen that he is on to her, but since he is unable to prove that Doob's killing was premeditated, he decides to tell his colleague that Karen acted in self-defense. At the same time, Mack and Megan return home, having also caught on to Karen's plan, and see the police taking away Doob's dead body. Mack quietly comforts Karen, understanding what she has done.

Cast

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a score of 8% with an average rating of 3.6/10, based on 40 reviews. The site's consensus states: "Overwrought, thinly written, and all-around unpleasant, Eye for an Eye crudely exploits every parent's nightmare with deeply offensive results." [2] On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 25/100 based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [3] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. [4]

Roger Ebert gave the film one star (out of four), calling it "a particularly nasty little example of audience manipulation" and writing that it "is intellectually corrupt because it deliberately avoids dealing with the issues it raises." Ebert also compared the film to Dead Man Walking , saying "Dead Man Walking challenges us to deal with a wide range of ethical and moral issues. Eye for an Eye cynically blinkers us, excluding morality as much as it can, to service an exploitation plot." [5] Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote: "Never in his varied career has Mr. Schlesinger made a film as mean-spirited and empty as this." She also felt "The sole purpose of Eye for an Eye is to excite blood lust from the audience". [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Alice</i> (1990 film) 1990 film by Woody Allen

Alice is a 1990 American fantasy romantic comedy film written and directed by Woody Allen, and starring Mia Farrow, Joe Mantegna, and William Hurt. The film is a loose reworking of Federico Fellini's 1965 film Juliet of the Spirits and Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

<i>The Bay Boy</i> 1984 film

The Bay Boy is a 1984 Canadian drama film. It is a semi-autobiographical film based on director Daniel Petrie's experiences of growing up in Glace Bay, a mining town on Cape Breton Island, during the Great Depression. It features the screen debut of Kiefer Sutherland as the film's central character, alongside Liv Ullmann as his character's mother.

<i>Jagged Edge</i> (film) 1985 thriller film by Richard Marquand

Jagged Edge is a 1985 American neo-noir legal thriller film written by Joe Eszterhas, and directed by Richard Marquand, the last of his films to be released during his lifetime. The film stars Glenn Close, Jeff Bridges, Peter Coyote and Robert Loggia. A lawyer reluctantly takes the case of a man accused of killing his wife, but remains uncertain if he is guilty or not.

<i>Silver Bullet</i> (film) 1985 film by Dan Attias

Silver Bullet is a 1985 American horror film based on the 1983 Stephen King novella Cycle of the Werewolf. It stars Gary Busey, Everett McGill, and Corey Haim, with Megan Follows, Terry O'Quinn, Lawrence Tierney, Bill Smitrovich, Kent Broadhurst, David Hart, and James Gammon in supporting roles. The film is directed by Dan Attias, written by King and produced by Martha De Laurentiis.

<i>Suspect</i> (1987 film) 1987 film by Peter Yates

Suspect is a 1987 American legal mystery thriller film directed by Peter Yates and starring Cher, Dennis Quaid, and Liam Neeson. Other notable cast members include John Mahoney, Joe Mantegna, Fred Melamed, and Philip Bosco.

<i>Eureka</i> (1983 film) 1983 film

Eureka is a 1983 psychological drama film directed by Nicolas Roeg, and starring Gene Hackman, Rutger Hauer, Theresa Russell, Mickey Rourke, and Joe Pesci. It follows the life of a Klondike prospector who becomes one of the world's wealthiest men after striking gold in 1925, but, 20 years on, fears that he is being preyed upon by his daughter and her social-climbing husband, as well as a mobster attempting to usurp the Caribbean island he owns. The screenplay is loosely based on the unsolved murder of Sir Harry Oakes in the Bahamas in 1943.

<i>Return to Me</i> 2000 film by Bonnie Hunt

Return to Me is a 2000 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Bonnie Hunt and starring David Duchovny and Minnie Driver. It was filmed in Chicago and was released on April 7, 2000 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures. It was Carroll O'Connor's final film before his death the following year.

<i>Trapped</i> (2002 film) 2002 American film

Trapped is a 2002 crime thriller film directed by Luis Mandoki and starring Charlize Theron, Courtney Love, Stuart Townsend, Kevin Bacon, Dakota Fanning and Pruitt Taylor Vince. Based on Greg Iles' bestselling novel 24 Hours, it follows a wealthy Portland, Oregon, couple whose daughter is kidnapped by a mysterious man and his wife who demand a ransom for unclear reasons.

<i>Ladybugs</i> (film) 1992 film by Sidney J. Furie

Ladybugs is a 1992 American sports-comedy film starring Rodney Dangerfield and directed by Sidney J. Furie. Dangerfield plays a Denver businessman who takes over a girls soccer team that the company he works for sponsors. The film also stars Jackée Harry as his assistant coach, Ilene Graff as his girlfriend, Jonathan Brandis as his girlfriend's son, and Vinessa Shaw as his boss' daughter.

<i>Things Change</i> (film) 1988 American drama film by David Mamet

Things Change is a 1988 American comedy-drama film directed by David Mamet and starring Joe Mantegna and Don Ameche. It was co-written by Mamet and Shel Silverstein.

<i>The Rat Pack</i> (film) 1998 HBO TV movie directed by Rob Cohen

The Rat Pack is a 1998 American HBO made-for-television drama film about the Rat Pack. The movie stars Ray Liotta as Frank Sinatra, Joe Mantegna as Dean Martin, Don Cheadle as Sammy Davis Jr., and Angus Macfadyen as Peter Lawford. Despite his membership in the Pack, Joey Bishop is given minimal screen time, while John F. Kennedy, depicted as an on-and-off friend of Sinatra's, is given a more central role.

<i>Edmond</i> (film) 2005 American drama film

Edmond is a 2005 American thriller film directed by Stuart Gordon and starring William H. Macy, based on the 1982 play Edmond by David Mamet. Mamet also wrote the screenplay for the film. Edmond features Julia Stiles, Rebecca Pidgeon, Denise Richards, Mena Suvari, Joe Mantegna, Bai Ling, Jeffrey Combs, Dylan Walsh and George Wendt in supporting roles. It was screened at several film festivals from September 2005 to May 2006, and had a limited release on July 14, 2006.

The Ugly is a 1997 New Zealand horror film, the first feature directed and written by Scott Reynolds. The film starred Paolo Rotondo, Rebecca Hobbs, Jennifer Ward-Lealand, and Roy Ward. The film is about a psychiatrist who is meeting with a serial killer to determine whether or not he has been successfully cured. They delve into a journey through his past and his victims, and through this "The Ugly", a distorted allusion to The Ugly Duckling, is revealed. It was nominated for best film awards at festivals in New Zealand, Portugal and the United States.

<i>Compromising Positions</i> 1985 film by Frank Perry

Compromising Positions is a 1985 American film released by Paramount Pictures and directed by Frank Perry. The screenplay, by Susan Isaacs, was adapted from her 1978 novel. The plot concerns a Long Island housewife and former journalist who becomes involved in a murder investigation.

<i>My Favorite Blonde</i> 1942 film

My Favorite Blonde is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Sidney Lanfield and starring Bob Hope and Madeleine Carroll. Based on a story by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, the film is about a vaudeville performer who gets mixed up with British and German secret agents in the days just before the United States' entry into World War II. The film features an uncredited cameo appearance by Bing Crosby.

<i>Chicago Joe and the Showgirl</i> 1990 film by Bernard Rose

Chicago Joe and the Showgirl is a 1990 British crime drama film directed by Bernard Rose and written by David Yallop, starring Kiefer Sutherland and Emily Lloyd. The film was inspired by the real-life Hulten/Jones murder case of 1944, otherwise known as the Cleft Chin Murder.

Fear Island is a 2009 Canadian mystery-thriller film directed by Michael Storey and starring Aaron Ashmore, Haylie Duff, Lucy Hale and Kyle Schmid. The film follows five student friends partying on a remote island, when they find a dead body and encounter a killer who wants them all dead.

<i>The Black Camel</i> (film) 1931 film

The Black Camel is a 1931 American pre-Code mystery film directed by Hamilton MacFadden and starring Warner Oland, Sally Eilers, Bela Lugosi, and Dorothy Revier. It is based on the 1929 novel of the same name by Earl Derr Biggers. It is the second film to star Oland as detective Charlie Chan, and the sole surviving title of the first five Chan films starring Oland. The Black Camel marked the film debut of Robert Young.

<i>Friends with Kids</i> 2011 American film

Friends with Kids is a 2011 American romantic comedy film written, produced, and directed by Jennifer Westfeldt, who also stars in the film. Adam Scott, Jon Hamm, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Chris O'Dowd, Megan Fox, and Edward Burns also star in the film.

<i>Naked</i> (2017 film) 2017 American film

Naked is a 2017 American comedy film directed by Michael Tiddes and written by Rick Alvarez, Cory Koller and Marlon Wayans. It is a remake of the 2000 Swedish film Naken. The film stars Marlon Wayans, Regina Hall, Jonathan Todd Jackson, Scott Foley, Loretta Devine, Brian McKnight and Dennis Haysbert. The film was released on Netflix on August 11, 2017.

References

  1. ↑ "Eye for an Eye (1996)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  2. ↑ "Eye for an Eye". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango Media . Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Eye for an Eye (1996) Reviews". Metacritic . Fandom, Inc. Retrieved January 27, 2023.
  4. ↑ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  5. ↑ "Eye for an Eye". rogerebert.com.
  6. ↑ "Get Mad? Yes, Then Be Sure To Get Even". The New York Times . 10 March 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.