This movie has been reviewed into overkill by many others on this board, so I will spare you another home-viewer's two thumbs down. However I would like to state that I am EXTREMELY surprised that no one has commented about the actual rape scene itself. I can remember watching this as a kid on Lifetime, and years later still remembering that scene to a chilling degree. In most cases for rape scenes, (at least the ones aired on television) they only get from the waist up in the shot. In this particular scene, the camera is aimed straight ahead at the rapist in a sitting position on the floor with the young girl laying out in front of him. Although there is no nudity involved, the scene is VERY graphic in nature. I don't know how in the world they got that girl to play out the scene so well, but I could actually feel her pain, as depicted in her face and screaming from being ripped apart. It was enough make me sick my stomach then as a child, and now as an adult.
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claudio_carvalho14 October 2015Karen McCann (Sally Field) is preparing the birthday party of her younger daughter Megan (Alexandra Kyle). Her older daughter Julie (Olivia Burnette) goes home earlier in the afternoon to help in the preparation and talks by phone with her mother that is in a traffic jam. Out of the blue, a man breaks in the house and rapes and kills Julie. Det. Sgt. Denillo (Joe Mantegna) is in charge of the investigation and captures the killer Robert Doob (Kiefer Sutherland) with strong evidences against him. However his lawyer uses a technical detail to dismiss the evidence and Robert is released. Karen and her husband Mack (Ed Harris) are advised to go to a support group and she discovers that there are vigilantes entwined in the group. Meanwhile Karen follows Robert that works delivering groceries and she finds that he intends to attack a Latin woman. She tries to warn the police and the probable victim, but she is driven away by them. When Robert finds that Karen is following him, he threatens her telling that he would visit Megan. Karen decides to have self-defense and shooting classes and the vigilante Sidney Hughes (Philip Baker Hall) gives a revolver to her. When the woman she tried to warn is murdered by Robert, Karen plots a scheme to get rid of the killer.
"Eye for an Eye" is a dramatic thriller with a great story of justice and revenge. It is a shame that lawyers use breaches in the laws to defend scums like the character Robert Doob, but that is the sad reality. The praiseworthy attitude of Karen McCann is an exception but perfectly understood in the situation. The acting is excellent and the plot is timeless. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Olho por Olho" ("Eye for an Eye") -
ccthemovieman-113 December 2007Before the hit television show "24," Keifer Sutherland played mostly despicable, evil characters. That's what he does in this film, as "Robert Doob," a low-life who rapes and kills Sally Field's daughter and then is unfairly released by the courts. Sally, playing "Karen McCann," goes after justice.
Almost everyone loves a revenge story and that, of course, is what this movie is, pure and simple: kind of a female "Death Wish."
As for the characters, Sutherland is "over the top" with his guy - way, way past despicable, so ridiculously bad and evil you might even laugh.
For those who picture Sally Field as "The Flying Nun," this movie will be a shock. She is anything but the sweet, wholesome-looking girl she appeared to be in so many of her films when she was younger.....or even the new TV commercials of today. Even though she has shown she can be very foul- mouthed ('m talking 'real life'), somehow seeing her portrayed here as a vigilante, doesn't ring up. Charles Bronson, yes; Sally Field, uh.....no.
Be warned: this is a tough movie in spots, especially in the beginning. It is very similar to the opening in "Death Wish," and is not for the squeamish.
This isn't a bad movie. It is extremely manipulative and has a bunch of plot holes, but if you love revenge films and don't care about particularly intelligent scripts (although the mad-as-hell mom isn't stupid in here), you can just add this one to your library. It serves its purpose of entertaining. -
deloudelouvain21 January 2020Nothing beats a good revenge movie, it's a thing people like to watch, making your own justice when all the legal options failed. Fantasizing about what we would do if we were the victim of injustice. For a vigilante movie Eye For An Eye is entertaining but it's not the best in the genre. For that there are too much inconsistencies and is the bad guy (played by Kiefer Sutherland) probably the dumbest vilain ever seen. But it's worth a watch, there is some suspense, we get some justice served, and that's why we watch movies like this one. It was probably better in the nineties but since then there are better movies made in this genre.
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eric26200316 November 2009In the past few years, director John Schlesinger has been living a quiet, serene life for himself. In the late 1960's, Schlesinger won an Oscar for Best Director in the classic "Midnight Cowboy" and has been nominated for many more during that period. Then his star status slowly began to plummet. With "Marathon Man" being his best in the 1970's and "Believers" has his best work in the 1980's, and in the 1990 season, he has been reduced to shifting into mediocrity with "Pacific Heights" (though Michael Keaton was was very sharp). It would be safe to say that around this time, Schlesinger's best days have long past him.
That is until 1996, when he released his forth film in the 1990's, the gripping, morbid and vengeful drama, "Eye for an Eye". Leading star Sally Field plays mother Karen McCann, a loving and devoted mother who while stuck in a hectic traffic jam receives the news via cell phone that her teenage daughter (Olivia Burnette)has been raped and murdered by some deranged lunatic. Robert Doob (Kiefer Sutherland) who was charged and arrested for this dastardly deed, is let go due a technical glitch. Karen, feels it is her own destiny to track down this evil man before he attempts to commit the same act to another unfortunate soul. Det. Denillo (Joe Mantegna) can't help her in her dilemma, which leads to Doob walking freely and on the hunt again and found another victim to rape and kill. Her motives keeps her apart from her husband Mack (Ed Harris) as her revenge becomes an obsession to the point where she decides to handle the situation, personally.
Though not on the same level as other parent losing child with death movies like "The Crossing Guard" and "Dead Man Walking", "Eye for An Eye" still has the vast array of emotions to guarantee a solid 1hr 41min of your time is well worth it. Overall the acting is very effective and all the stars bring out the best that they excel in. Kiefer Sutherland is excellent in all his villainy even if his performance is limited. Ed Harris and Joe Mantegna show wonderful performances in their brief roles, but Sally Field carries the film through as a woman obsessed with getting even with this psychopath on the loose.
Though it flows as a standard fare, Schlesinger makes sure that the pace is fast and the tensity at a heart-pulsing rate. I think a lot of people will appreciate this rare timeless classic that is highly recommended by the majority of film lovers. -
johnkennethisaac18 February 2007In my opinion this is one of Keifer Sutherlands best and underrated roles.He plays a terrific villain here ,so much it makes me wonder why he does not do more roles like this.He is so convincing and his stage presence is immpecable.The movie itself didn't do an awful lot for me but again Sutherland is the real star here .Another role he played similar to this was Truth and consequences New Mexico .He looks exactly like he does in this and plays a perfect bad guy.I have always claaified Sutherland with actors like Ray Liota and Micheal Keaton because they are amazing actors who don't get the right roles.They all play spectacular villains and for some reason they never do enough of them.This movie is great in the way it highlights Sutherlands best features as a actor and as a character you love to hate.
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SnoopyStyle1 February 2015Karen (Sally Field) and Mack McCann (Ed Harris) are happily married with two daughters. While on a phone call with her daughter Julie, Karen hears Julie being raped and murdered. Det. Sgt. Denillo (Joe Mantegna) investigates. Karen and Mack go to a support group. Robert Doob (Kiefer Sutherland) is arrested but the supposed dead bang case is dismissed because of a promise from the previous prosecutor to provide a sample of the DNA evidence. Karen starts following delivery boy Doobs. He pays a visit to her younger daughter Megan. She finds a group of vigilantes from the support group. However one of the support group member turns out to be an FBI agent investigating vigilante killings.
Everything in this movie is heightened to get on the audience's nerves. It jumps quickly into the rape and murder. It's a very effective scene especially with Sally Field acting for all her worth. However every scene is pushed hard by director John Schlesinger. Kiefer is all greased up. This is not a subtle movie but it could do with some. It's unnerving but in a bad way. It takes itself very seriously which makes all the manipulations all the much harder to take. -
cal_ripley9996 July 2006Karen is a normal woman living a normal upper class life with her husband and her two daughters until one day she calls home on her cell phone, and Julie (her 17 year old daughter) answers. Julie is preparing for her sister Megan's 6th birthday at the time of the call, and Karen is still talking to her when someone suddenly breaks into the house and attacks Julie. Trying to get another cell phone in order to call the police for help, Karen rushes home as fast as she can, and is devastated by what has happened. Julie was raped and murdered. After Julie's killer, Robert Doob,a supermarket deliveryman is unfairly released. Karen takes on a somewhat different perspective on life. She devotes her life to hunt down the man who killed her daughter and in order to find him, Karen has to descend into a world she never knew existed. EYE FOR AN EYE is a very dark film about obsession and revenge and the price everybody involved has to pay. It's not the kind of film that tries to deliver a vision of hope, but rather a sinister world of cynicism. The only escape for Karen (and everybody else) seems to be the kind of love Karen shows for her daughter Megan, her husband and her friends.
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This movie was very gripping. Karen McCann's (Sally Field) daughter gets brutally murdered, and the legal system is helpless on putting the murderer away. Karen decides to take the law into her own hands to avenge her daughter's killer, and her husband is trying to stop her. Overall if you want to know the ending you will have to watch the movie.
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sddavis6325 February 2013Sally Fields does a good job with this movie as a revenge seeking mother of a teenage daughter who's been raped and murdered. I suppose to make this worth watching, she has to do a good job with this. The story itself has been done over and over: seeking revenge after a violent crime because the justice system has failed. That's a pretty cliché type of situation and story, so there's not really a great deal to recommend this as far as originality is concerned. But Fields is good, and Kiefer Sutherland is appropriately creepy and threatening as the rapist/murderer. The portrayal of the rape of Karen's daughter was terrifying, but (thankfully) not especially graphic.) The same could be said for the later rape committed by Sutherland's Doob. The movie, in my opinion, also makes a fair point about the justice system leaning too far on the side of defending the rights of obviously guilty criminals at the expense of actually dispensing justice for their victims. I understand the need to protect the rights of the accused, but there does have to be a balance, and that balance is sometimes lost in the system that we have.
I was kind of put off by the "group" the McCann's attended for people who had lost loved ones to violence. To each his or her own, I suppose, but I can't imagine that sitting around night after night talking about the same thing over and over and over again is really going to help anyone move on, and I wasn't convinced by the "vigilante organization" aspect of this.
I have to say, though, that I did like the ending. What I was finding distasteful up to this point was that Karen was going to turn vigilante, and by so doing she'd be be risking losing her other daughter as well by ending up in prison, which might have satisfied her own desire for revenge but would have been very selfish toward the younger daughter. So, the way she played things, she made sure that (a) she'd get her revenge, but (b) that she wouldn't lose anything more by doing it. So, the ending worked for me. Overall, I found this a pretty good watch. (7/10) -
moonspinner5518 October 2006Bumfuzzled screenplay by Amanda Silver and Rick JaffaIt, working from Erika Holzer's novel, is such a contrived mess that it's amazing it attracted the likes of Sally Field and Ed Harris (not to mention director John Schlesinger, still in "Pacific Heights" mode). The leads play a married couple mourning the death of their daughter, murdered at home by a psychopath; mom soon begins stalking the creep, freed from prison on one of those movie technicalities. Barely two-dimensional, the picture could be filed under Thrillers For Dummies. Schlesinger underlines every plot point twice, just so we in the audience don't miss a trick; meanwhile, Harris' father is so weak-willed he can't even hold an intelligent conversation with his wife about the death penalty without looking stunned into submission. Kiefer Sutherland's killer is, naturally, full of color and audience-rousing nastiness. This presents another problem: why make a disgusting, immoral punk so vivacious? It's almost as if Schlesinger is saying life is suburbia turns us all into robots...or maybe targets. *1/2 from ****
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Smells_Like_Cheese29 November 2003Karen is a mother who has just lost her daughter to a brutal rape by a man, Robert Doob. When the court lacks of evidence that he did it, he goes free. But Karen isn't done with him yet; she will do whatever she can in her power 'til there is justice for her daughter and another victim of his.
I loved "Eye for an Eye", it's a terrific movie that is very well acted. I know it kind of looks like a movie for Lifetime or U.S.A., but nevertheless it's a great movie that should really be given a chance. I cried during this movie, during the scene where Karen is on the phone with her daughter, Julie while she is being raped by Robert. All she can hear is her daughter's screams, cries for help, and her last scream. Nobody on the street will help this poor woman who is screaming for the police to get to her house. I just can't imagine that ever happening, when I saw this movie with my mom, she held me close and started crying as well. Nobody wants that feeling and Sally did a great job on showing the fear in her eyes and the total feeling of no hope or being helpless.
Yes, it's a little over done and dramatic, but it's very real and I felt that it captured what every person has felt they wanted: justice for victims. How do you live when a person you loved so much is murdered and the person that did it got off because they had bad parents? Or they had a bad incident or just feels insane for a few minutes? How crazy is it? I think that's what got me close to the film, though I have not had a close family member murdered, I think we can understand the pain and confusion these people go through in the movie. I loved Karen's line to Mack "Do you believe in the death penalty?", he says "For that guy, I do" referring to Robert and Karen looks at him and asks "Why? Because it's just or you want revenge?". Despite it being a trick question without a satisfying answer, I think we have all felt that way.
Keifer Sutherland, man! I love this guy, he is one my favorite actors, because he is a methodist and is not afraid of taking chances. He as Robert Doob, I didn't want to believe it was him because he is so brutally convincing as this vicious and evil character that will brutally rape women and young girls. That scene where he is with Karen's little daughter, Megan, in the playhouse, was so incredibly suspenseful and I couldn't breath. Keifer did do great, just too great that scarred me. Ed Harris did great as well as Mack, Karen's husband. He tries so hard to put the family back together after the shattering aftermath of Julie's death and wishes Karen would come back to herself with Megan.
"Eye for an Eye" is a great movie that should be given a chance. The rape scenes are very disturbing, I warn you. You might need a strong stomach, especially for the scene I described with Karen on the phone with her daughter. The ending is a little short and felt rushed, but I would always recommend this for a watch.
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~Contains Spoilers~
If you are a fan of Sally field or Kiefer Sutherland you will certainly enjoy this movie.
It all starts off with young Julie Mc Can. A stranger breaks into her house when her parents aren't home and rapes/murders her in a brutal way.
The scene is pretty graphic so if you are a person who is disturbed easily by that kind of violence, you may not want to watch this.
The most disturbing part of this is that she is on the phone with her mother (Sally Field) whenever she is being attacked. After she dies Karen (Sally Field) basically has a nervous break down and can barely move on in her life. Not being able to pay any attention to her youngest daughter and her husband. Finally whenever Robert Doob (Sutherland) is released on some kind of technicality, Karen decides to take the law into her own hands, especially when the Doob rapes and murders another woman.
So with working out, taking defense classes, and learning how to use a gun, she sets a trap for doob.
The conclusion is really good, and the movie is never really boring at any point. Not the best movie EVER, but still one worth renting and watching a couple of times. Especially if your into suspense/thrillers.
Personally, Kiefer Sutherland creeps me out big time in this movie, which is why i cant stand him in anything else. But that may just be because I'm at a young age? who knows. But give this movie a try...its really worth watching. -
gs209 September 2010The thing that spoiled the story for me and just made the whole thing implausible was ed harris and ed harris alone........i cannot imagine a father whose daughter is violently raped and murdered acting in such a blaze' or indifferent and completely detached manner.........he was absolutely blank about it and acted pretty much as if nothing unusual happened in his life.........as opposed, say, to sean penn in mystic river reacting to the same situation (outstanding believability) i have never thought much of harris' quirky and bizarre acting style until i realized he is just a terrible actor, that there is no real style to think about and this is a good example of that blankness and absence of emotion..........they would have gotten a better performance out of someone who just happened by the set.
Harris' performance here, as in many of his performances was without substance. -
futures-127 March 2007"Eye for an Eye" (1996): Starring Sally Field, Ed Harris, Kiefer Sutherland, Beverly D'Angelo, and Joe Mantegna. Our stories tell us where we've been, where we are, and where we hope to go. THIS story is a Where We Are type. A family loses a loved one to violence. If that wasn't enough, the perpetrator doesn't see justice. Each deals with it in their own way, and everyone changes. Slowly we head towards an inevitable encounter. Sally Fields is great as a person torn over how to go on, Ed Harris does his classic stoic/occasionally almost emotional role, Joe Mantegna is very good as a hard working cop, and Kiefer Sutherland is great as a true sociopath. This is a tense drama that doesn't jump over scenes for the sake of reaching a climax. It's not that the characters are the most complex or unique in film history but they ring true and there in lies the strength of "Eye for an Eye". It could have been ANY of us.
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merklekranz31 December 2007One or two minor surprises cannot overcome the utter predictability of "Eye For An Eye". With this cast there was tremendous potential that for the most part remains unrealized. The script is so by the books that "I've seen all this before" thoughts quickly surface. Kiefer Sutherland really remains in the background for most of the film. If his character had been better developed, and less dialog between Sally Field and Ed Harris the movie would have benefited. Philip Baker Hall appears to be fine tuning his character for "Hard Eight", and really has little bearing on the outcome. If you can overcome the familiarity of the script give this a try. - MERK
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lee_eisenberg26 August 2006Revenge has often been a theme in movies ("Kill Bill" brought it to its apex). "Eye for an Eye" is pretty middling. I agree with a previous reviewer that action isn't really Sally Field's forte; she's one of America's more serious actresses (like Susan Sarandon and Meryl Streep), and thus seems out of place here. To add to that, John Schlesinger did an interesting job with action in "Marathon Man". But that one was more about espionage, and this is straightforward revenge, so it comes across strange.
All that said, the movie itself is actually quite tense. Kiefer Sutherland is the perfect person to play the bad guy. The whole end sequence may really freeze your blood. Worth seeing for those aspects, but this just isn't Sally Field's kind of movie. On the other hand, it is kinda neat to see the Flying Nun bringing out her inner beast.
Also starring Ed Harris, Joe Mantegna, Beverly D'Angelo and Philip Baker Hall. -
As one reviewer put it, we can chop it up ten different ways, but did it keep you entertained, yes it definately does. I gave it a 7 and would of been higher except a few minor things like predictably, loose ends on sublots, like at the end she did nothing wrong really, but mostly since you can see that camera crew in very beginning before the Train Wreck rape scene and Insay that since it is hard to watch but hard to look away. Like someone said intense everytime you watch and I mean 90% of it. Keifer is one of my favs I like him as villain. Esp in Phone Booth. Another good one. This movie is I feel more than exceptional and doesn't hold back. Brutal but with the right intent. An stuff like this happens. I like when she follows him the best. Plahouse scene was high suspense, ending needed fine tuned (the way final scene plays out how both hesitate and gun is empty) plus the scene earlier where she clearly parks her car before him. Minus a few of these bloopers I still think it is a thought provoking bone chilling thriller that goes over a tough subject a diff angle (for those who always go back to Dead Man Walking) we know still above average. Oh and who cares if it's a revenge flick duh it is clear about that. People who complain about all that are gonna find something no matter what. That's why sometimes we suspend our disbelief!
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neilclelland27 July 2001For me, this film started badly, with merely a terrible script and hammy acting from the ever distressed and irritating Sally Field, and quickly spiralled down to a morally repugnant finale.
Maybe I should have guessed from the title. I spent the entire film wondering who I was supposed to be sympathising with, because I cannot become attached and empathise with anyone who is so hell-bent on revenge and destruction, Kiefer Sutherland was truly evil and so I was left purely feeling for the rest of her family (Ed Harris was great as ever), who she neglected in order to partake in her little obsessive Death Wish fantasy, and who were the true victims of the story.
At least Death Wish voiced the counter arguments against vigilantism throughout the film and Bronson was given something of a reprimand at the end, whereas here the FBI agent is somewhat discredited and she is seen to get off scott free. Also Bronson became more of a social avenger driven by revenge, rather than a physcotic killer who is only out for revenge for what as happened to her, and not society as a whole.
I found this a nasty, nasty film which left me with an incredibly sour taste in my mouth. -
meezerfan12314 September 2001...seems to have enraged some viewers of this film. The bad guy is really bad. Guess what, they're like that in the real world too. There are plenty of bad guys out there who have no redeeming qualities and do laugh at the system, assuming it will never be able to really punish them. I found this movie very believable and thought the acting was terrific and the climax very satisfying. It was nice to see something come out of Hollywood that wasn't skewed in perspective by the left coast that produced it. Anybody who thinks Robert Doob as a character is too one-dimensional to be believable has never met a violent criminal in the flesh.
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cbnewham1 March 2018The plot is ok, although there is no way that the suspect (Keifer Sutherland) would have had his case dismissed at the very beginning of the movie based just on the technicality of the defence not having been given evidence up front - it would have gone further than that given that the DNA evidence was strong.
Sally Field is ok - but her acting is a bit forced at times. I agree with another reviewer - Ed Harris was a bad choice and totally ruins the film. In no way, shape, or form is he the stepfather. There is no chemistry between him and Field and his acting is just totally unbelievable. -
=G=23 December 2001A mediocre drama with Fields at the vortex, "Eye For an Eye" attempts to exploit the hate we all feel at heinous crime and the natural inclinations toward uncivilized retribution when the crime goes unpunished. Fields plays a woman whose daughter has been raped and murdered by the sneering Sutherland who is so evil he not only rapes and murders twice in the film but he pours hot coffee on a dog. Now that's evil. Such is the mentality behind this film in which the good are very good and the bad are very bad and the plot is as obvious as the "E" on an eye chart. An okay watch if there's nothing better to be found while channel surfing.
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If you like Sally Field, you'll love this movie because she does what Sally does best . . . intense drama! I think she should have won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Karen, the horrified, devastated, angry, Mom/wife whose beautiful teen-age daughter was brutally raped & murdered by a wacko delivering groceries! She was every bit as good as she was in "Norma Rae" and "Places in the Heart"! Some say the movie was not realistic . . obviously you've never been poor or lived in bad neighborhoods, because this kind of stuff happens everyday! The way the justice system works was very realistic also. Gee, let me throw out the name O.J. Simpson! . . I rest my case! Granted the movie was very graphic but so is violent crime in real life! It was very realistic! I cried and grieved (having lost a loved one to violent crime myself) and was angry and revengeful right along with her. I wanted to reach thru the screen and strangle Robert Doob (Kiefer Sutherland, who should of won a best supporting actor award) the cocky, cold, malicious killer, who had no respect for human life and thought he was above the law! I hated him! And I would have done exactly what Sally Fields did if that was my only recourse get justice done! He was clever but she outsmarted him at his own game and did it within the law! This movie was so moving, I was an emotional wreck at the end just like Sally was! I thought the whole cast did a very good job and that the movie was underrated because of it's content. Not everyone wants to watch something so intense. After a hard day at work, I prefer to sit down to something lighthearted like comedy but this one was just to good to pass up!
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Other than her nobeing stupid to not shoot the creep immediatly and of course lose the gun so he gets his hands on her. She was a pretty smart cookie. 2 ways to skin a cat. I dont know if i would have had the forthought for that? I pretty muck know ...unfortunately..id of spent my days in prison. That thing wnever would have walked. Had those been my children.not to prove anything. I just would not have let him get away with it it. To hell w the consequence. Thats one thing that IS to hell with the consequence. Loved the cast. Shes been a winner forever, and her husband??? I like him alot. As far as Sutherland is concerned , was he acting? Or is that how some of them really are? Movie made me anger.
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amosduncan_200021 July 2016Sometimes stars have to appear in crap to keep the studio happy, but what happened to the great director John Schlesinger was really sad. He was reduced to doing tripe like this female Death Wish along with the equally routine "Pacific Heights".
A long way from "Midnight Cowboy" and "Sunday Bloody Sunday" to be sure. Oh well, his quality films will live on. This garbage will only be there to satisfy revenge film fans. Those people might as well be watching Monster Truck Rallies.
Schlesinger showed some skill with violence in "Marathon Man" but
you don't see it in this stinker.