Friday 5 April 2024

Seeking Justice (3 Stars)


This is a 2011 action thriller that takes place in New Orleans. Will Gerrard is a meek English teacher. One evening his wife is raped on her way home. In hospital he's approached by a man who says he knows who the rapist is and can deal with him. It's not certain that the police will find him, and even if they do it will mean a harassing trial for his wife, and he might not get more than a year in prison. The stranger, who introduces himself only as Simon, says that the rapist is currently on parole after a previous offence.

"Deal with him"? The word "kill" isn't used, but it's obvious what he means. After short hesitation Will agrees. As a condition he has to agree to do a favour at some time in the future. So there's a catch? Never mind, Will wants justice for his wife.

We see a man shooting the rapist at home. Gradually the plot unravels. Simon runs an organisation that seeks justice for rape victims. A man is sent to kill a rapist. Next time there's a rape, the victim's husband is asked to kill the criminal. It's a chain of killings. The killer can never be found, because he has no connection to the rapist. The person who has been wronged always has an alibi.

Six month's later it's Will's turn to kill someone. He's given the photo of a paedophile and told to kill him.

By this point, I was having problems with the film's premise. It's very infeasible. Will isn't a killer. Probably many of the other men in the chain weren't killers. The film made me think about myself. I'd be happy if someone came to me and offered to kill my wife's rapist. He deserves to die, doesn't he? But if someone asked me to kill a rapist, I couldn't do it. I'm not a killer.

Will only consents to commit a murder after his wife is threatened. So Simon isn't such a good guy after all. After killing the man he finds out that he wasn't a paedophile, he was a reporter who was gathering information on Simon's gang.

This is a strange story. I kept shaking my head as things were uncovered. I just couldn't believe it. I enjoyed Nicolas Cage's acting, but a good actor doesn't make a good film. In fact, all of the main characters are played well, but the story still doesn't hold up.

Success Rate:  - 2.2

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