Cage ‘Rage’ and Finochio Out of the Ring
"Jesse." (Key Art0. ©Arc-Entertainment.

“Jesse.” (Key Art0. ©Arc-Entertainment.

By a Front Row Features Staff Reporter

Two new home video releases are centered on characters seeking justice against those who would do their family members harm.

The past comes back to haunt a former petty criminal in the crime thriller “Rage,” starring Nicolas Cage. The Image Entertainment film is out on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital download Tuesday, August 12.

Cage plays Paul Maguire, who used to be part of a group of Irish petty criminals. After a big score, he and his pals go their separate ways and live quiet normal lives. That is until the Russian mobsters they ripped off years earlier track them down and kidnap Paul’s teenage daughter. The distraught dad rounds up his old gang intent on finding her at any cost. Paul’s search for justice leads him down a dark and bloody path of revenge, betrayal and the revelation of old secrets. The cast includes Danny Glover, Rachel Nichols and Peter Stormare. Special features include a making-of featurette, an alternate ending and deleted scenes.

Also in the crime drama genre is “Jesse,” available Tuesday on DVD (which comes with Vudu digital copy). Jesse (played by stuntwoman and former wrestler Stephanie Finochio) is an alcoholic cop. When her brother gets involved with the Mob and disappears, Jesse investigates and finds herself drawn into a world of crime, corruption and violence. Eric Roberts plays an understanding bartender, Armand Assante plays an Internal Affairs detective and William Forsythe plays an all-powerful mob boss. Although pulled in different directions by those around her, Jesse remains focused on her goal of bringing those responsible for her brother’s disappearance to justice. When her mother is savagely beaten, Jesse takes to the streets with a sawed-off shotgun, and dispatches those responsible with remarkable precision. This gritty revenge crime drama is produced and directed by Fred Carpenter (“Just Like Joe,” “Eddie Monroe”), from the screenplay he wrote with Joanne Tamburro.