Rage And Revenge At Heart Of ‘Eye For An Eye’

A cold-eyed, calculating movie for panicky times, John Schlesinger’s “Eye for an Eye” offers fearful citizens the haven of an imaginary relief from the human monsters that plague us at every turn.

Heaven forbid anyone should try this kind of stuff at home. The film’s satisfyingly predictable revenge motif relies entirely on our watching Sally Field, that ultimately sane and stable citizen, sink to an unthinkable level in response to an unspeakable crime.

In her plot against a subhuman creep named Robert Doob (played with simian repellence by Kiefer Sutherland), Karen McCann (Field) knows she aims to treat only one symptom of a sick civilization. That is good enough for her, and good enough for a movie calculated to rally the mass audience as much as to entertain it.

Seems this Doob jerk has as good as confessed to the rape and murder of McCann’s teenaged daughter, but a quirk of law frees him - to kill again, perhaps.

Field’s portrayal of an upper-middle-class matron in turmoil is at once touching, inspiring (in a “mugged liberal” kind of way) and terrifying. From the character’s shock at ear-witnessing the slaying via telephone, through her impatient dealings with the police and an ominous counseling group, to her reckless stalking of the killer, Field transforms grief to vindictive energy.

Though heroic in its context, Field’s performance may be scarier than Sutherland’s - itself a hair-raising display of mean-dog menace. The Amanda Silver-Rick Jaffa screenplay makes the Doob character sufficiently unpleasant, but Sutherland raises the ante with an interpretation that says the guy does not care what wrongs he may do or whether he gets caught. It is one thing to write remorselessness into a villain’s dialogue - and quite another to find an actor capable of conveying that attitude silently.

Director Schlesinger is treading familiar waters here, recapturing that same darkness in the American heart that he portrayed so ably in “Midnight Cowboy” (1969), “Marathon Man” (1976) and “The Believers” (1986). Even the certainty of what Field’s character must do is placed in suspense under Schlesinger’s assured control.

In support, Ed Harris is memorable as Field’s worried husband. Broadway champ Charlayne Woodard appears formidable and mysterious as a curiously silent member of Field’s grief-support group.

MEMO: These sidebars appeared with the story: 1. “Eye for an Eye” Location: Lincoln Heights, Newport and Coeur d’Alene cinemas Credits: Directed by John Schlesinger; starring Sally Field, Kiefer Sutherland, Ed Harris Running time: 1:41 Rating: R

2. Other view Chris Hewitt/St. Paul Pioneer Press: Maybe I’m just not cynical enough yet to believe in “Eye For an Eye,” a sloppy movie that assumes our criminal-justice system doesn’t work and never will work again. … Much of the movie is structured to make sure that we’ll cheer when Sutherland gets his, which puts you in the icky position of being a “fan” at a public execution. … The movie’s tone is so unsure that it seems to be endorsing her actions and asserting that all of us are potential murderers, an assertion I refuse to believe.