Some films look anachronistic. Some films look like they have been made before their time. Some films look like they were caught in some sort of trans-dimensional disturbance, being torn between different time periods as a result. Eye for an Eye, 1996 thriller directed by John Schlesinger, belongs to the third category.
Protagonist of the film is Karen McCaan (played by Sally Field), successful businesswoman who lives with her second husband Mack (played by Ed Harris) and two young daughters. Their middle-class idyll is forever shattered when Karen listens her older daughter's brutal rape and murder over the cell phone. Rest of family is devastated but at least some comfort comes in the fact that police apprehended the perpetrator, seasoned criminal Robert Doob (played by Kiefer Sutherland). He is not going to pay for his crimes, because of district attorney's legal error that sets him free in the court. Betrayed by the system, Karen tries to come to terms with this by joining support group for people whose loved ones were murdered. There she finds out about more extreme faction within group – those who have decided to take the law into their own hands and see the justice done. Following their example, Karen buys gun, starts learning martial arts and gradually begins stalking Doob who, once free, continued with his evil ways.
Basic plot for Eye for an Eye - crime victim, humiliated by the state's inability to bring justice, takes matters into his/her hands – is hardly original. It worked best in 1970s, in a gloomy time of uncertainty, when people generally distrusted the government and its ability to cope with mounting social problems, including crime. Amanda Silver's and Jack Rafa's script, on the other hand, was made in 1990s - a different age, marked by Clintonian post-Cold War economic growth, prosperity and Pax Americana, therefore unsuited for atavistic practices. So, the revenge story in this film had to be given "political correct" make-over. Great effort is made to erase any trace of right-wing agenda or ideology from Karen and her cause; the main villain the film is blonde Aryan, while the closest thing to moral anchor in this film happens to be black lesbian. In the latter part of the film the plot is manipulated in such way that even followers of Ghandi have no other choice but to empathise with her actions. Of course, all this means that the credibility of the plot and characters goes down the drain. To make things even more embarrassing for the authors of Eye for an Eye, one of the more recent films, In the Bedroom, showed how the same subject could be dealt in more realistic and powerful manner. The only good thing about Eye for an Eye is the cast; Sally Field makes good performance with her thankless role, but the fans of vigilante films would nevertheless remain loyal to Charles Bronson.
RATING: 3/10 (+)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on April 23rd 2003)
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