Eye for an Eye

Eye for an Eye follows Karen McCann, a Los Angeles wife and mother whose life is shattered when an intruder breaks into her home and kills her seventeen-year-old daughter. The man responsible, Robert Doob, is arrested, but the case against him collapses in court and he goes free. Karen's grief turns to rage as the legal system fails to hold him accountable, and she begins training with firearms and tracking his movements herself, preparing to act where the courts would not.

The film was directed by John Schlesinger, the twelfth feature in a directing career that began with Billy Liar in 1963 and includes Midnight Cowboy, Sunday Bloody Sunday, Marathon Man and Pacific Heights. Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver wrote the screenplay, and Michael I. Levy produced. Sally Field plays Karen, with Kiefer Sutherland as Doob, Ed Harris as her husband Mack, and supporting turns from Beverly D'Angelo, Charlayne Woodard and Joe Mantegna. It runs 101 minutes.

Released on January 12, 1996, the thriller cost about 20 million dollars and returned roughly 27 million worldwide, a modest result against its budget. On IMDb it holds 6.2 out of 10 from around 23,000 votes, and on TMDB 6.3 from 491 votes. A film critics' rating of 3.8 out of 10, drawn from 41 reviews, sits well below those audience scores.