Despite the implicit promise of its title, Brian Garfield's novel "Death Wish" has entered cinematic perpetuity, living on through four sequels and now reincarnated as the new movie "Death Sentence." The original and its offspring all starred Charles Bronson, a popular action movie protagonist, and its story of urban terror and vigilante justice apparently touched a nerve in audiences. The fantasy of an ordinary citizen transformed into a vigilante hunting the thugs who raped his wife and daughter, and then extending his vendetta to include any criminals roaming the streets of New York, appealed to an audience frightened by the daily drumbeat of crime reporting - as they say in the media, if it bleeds, it leads.

Although that motto still prevails and public figures continue to exploit the fears of the populace, "Death Wish V" appeared more than a decade ago, which may explain the existence of "Death Sentence." The movie's producers, sensing a vacuum, probably felt the need for yet another descent into the contemporary urban underworld and a violent confrontation between an ordinary citizen and a gang of murderous thugs. Without in any way improving on its predecessors - and the first was a powerful and even occasionally thoughtful work - the film follows pretty much the same formula, with some perhaps slightly more ambiguous conclusions.

The ubiquitous Kevin Bacon plays Nick Hume, an insurance company executive with a loving wife and two fine sons, enjoying one of those ideal suburban lives that mostly occur in the movies. One night, while driving his older son, Brendan, a talented hockey player, home from a game, he stops for gas in a squalid neighborhood, and encounters the catastrophe that destroys his life and propels the movie. A gang of vicious punks holds up the station and one of them, in order to win acceptance into the gang, murders Brendan with a machete.

Although the others escape, the police arrest the young killer, but the prosecutor warns Nick that he will have to cut a deal with the defense, which means the criminal will serve only a short term. Instead of testifying against his son's murderer, Nick decides to administer his own brand of justice, stalking the killer and exacting vengeance, a gesture that motivates the rest of the gang to pursue him. After his act of revenge, the remainder of the movie involves a series of increasingly violent battles between Nick and the thugs.

Aside from the primitive appeal of vigilante justice, which should satisfy any viewer, the film attempts to raise some of the moral issues that Nick's decision poses. A detective (Aisha Tyler), who suspects him of retaliation, cautions him about the consequences of his actions, which ultimately endanger his wife and son. At the same time, the police seem impotent in the face of the threat from half a dozen loathsome punks, unable to protect his family, and apparently not even inordinately disturbed when the gang kills a cop, a crime that traditionally inspires a special vengeance on the part of law enforcement.

The passivity and timidity of the police provide only one of several examples of the film's almost complete implausibility. The audience must believe that a sedentary, middle-aged pencil pusher can first outrun, then beat the hell out of several tough young criminals, prevail in a shootout with the whole gang, and take enough bullets to turn him into Swiss cheese without succumbing - this guy could spot both Charles Bronson and Robert De Niro (in "Taxi Driver") a few shots and still come out on top.

"Death Sentence" also attempts some dubious moralizing about its protagonist's actions, showing him shaving the hair around his head wound, putting on one of his son's leather jackets, and arming himself with a shotgun and pistols, in effect turning himself into the people he hunts down. Near the end, he and his chief antagonist, an especially loathsome brute named Billy Darley (Garrett Hedlund), both severely wounded, collapse side by side on a pew in an abandoned church - please - and Darley observes that Nick is just like him. Well, yes, but that doesn't add any more meaning to the picture, though it certainly makes one miss Charles Bronson.

Death Sentence

(R), DIRECTED BY JAMES WAN

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