I tend to dig in for old movies these days as I feel they acted what made more sense back then than they do in this 21st century(not saying there aren't some shitty old movies though). Adapted from the novel by Ericka Holzer, this movie centers on a woman who took laws into her hands to get justice for her seventeen year old daughter that was raped and gruesomely murdered. Before I give my take on what I think about this film let's talk about the plot.
Synopsis:
Mack McCann (Ed Harris) and Karen (Sally field) are happily married with two daughters to attest for Julie a seventeen year old from Karen's previous marriage and Megan a six year old.
One afternoon, Karen is out to do shopping for her younger daughter's birthday party while Julie is at home helping with the preparations. Karen is on the phone with Julie when suddenly the girl screams for help as she is violently raped and later murdered. The police gets involved and the detective finds a DNA evidence to find and convict the murderer. He further encourages Karen to seek counseling as she seemed to be losing her mind.
Karen joins a support group and there she meets people with the same story as hers who are trying to help each other heal quickly.
The DNA test reveals Julie's killer to be Robert Doob(Kiefer Sutherland) , a delivery man who also has previous criminal records to his name. At the trial, the judge dismisses the case and Robert Doob is released as defense didn't receive a sample of the evidence. Karen and her husband are horrified as Robert walks free.
After Mack figured there was no hope for their case, he desperately wants to return to normal life but Karen can't stop thinking about Doob. She follows him and watches his every move, she finds out where he lives and even follows him when he's out to do deliveries. She tries to warn one of his female customers about him but too bad the lady could only speak Spanish and never did understand what Karen was trying to say. Doob later rapes and murders the lady awakening the previous case but there's still not enough evidence to lock him up. Karen later learns that the murderer of one of her group member's son has been killed and after a lot of inquiry, she meets the people who helped them carry out the plan. She joins a self defense class and carries out a plan on how to get back at Doob.
Doob later figures that Karen is stalking him and goes to Megan's school as a warning to Karen to stay off his path. Karen sets a trap by leaving her cap in Doob's house which lured him to her house so that she can say she killed him as a means of self defense. Doob falls into the trap and is shot by Karen after a struggle.
The police arrive alongside the detective who knows what had happened and questions Karen who immediately asks him to prove that what she did wasn't as a means of self defense.
My opinion
Though it kinda excites blood lust from the audience, this movie still portrays what is actually happening in reality where criminals are left to wander free due to what they call lack of evidence. It would have annoyed me if Karen didn't get her justice because clearly, Doob was the one terrorizing vulnerable females during his delivery, I don't see why the law would let such human wander free even after seeing a similar case, they still let him go without locking him up. If it were me, I'd definitely want to take that revenge, raping a seventeen year old is wickedness as it's peak and shouldn't be taken lightly. I'll give this one an 8/10 as I somewhat liked it. My views and opinion may differ from yours if you get to see it.
Further information: it's rated 🔞 and involves violence so be warned. It's an American psychological thriller directed by John Schlesinger, written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.
Cast:
The movie stars Sally Field, Kiefer Sutherland, Ed Harris, Beverly D'Angelo and Joe Mantegna. A great cast indeed, they fit well into character I must say.
Released on January 12, 1996 runs for an hour and one minute with English as the dominant language.