Death Wish

Death Wish



I often wonder if I were to watch films like Commando or Rambo for the first time as an adult, whether I would actually like them as much. Or, as is more likely, I’ve grown to love them because I watched them when I was easier to please ie As a kid.
The same thing could be said about ‘Death Wish’. Unfortunately, I’ve just watched it for the first time.

Paul Kersey(Charles Bronson) is your standard bleeding heart liberal. He thinks that the violent crime in the city could be solved if we all just hugged the homeless. You know the type. That’s his world view until his wife and daughter are brutally attacked in their home; his wife later dying and his daughter becoming catatonic. This pushes Kersey over the edge, turning him into a vigilante, prowling the streets with a handgun, indiscriminately killing innocent muggers and villains.

Sounds good, huh? Well, no, the movie is stacked with flaws. The character transition from Liberal to gun-nut takes far too long. We’re supposed to believe that Kersey would start work again the day after his wife’s been killed and it literally takes someone to put the gun in his fist before he realises his destiny.

Bronson doesn’t seem to take his role seriously here. He goes through the motions, playing the character as though he’s simply waiting for the pay-check to arrive. He does reprise this role another four times in his career so it must have been a nice little earner.

There are some stand-out moments that raise this above other crap revenge movies though; The fact that our anti-hero doesn’t seem interested in his family’s attackers, but just seeks revenge on all criminals, is a good twist. It would have been more interesting, though, if he’d wrongly gunned down an innocent in his quest and gave the film some extra bite. The ending, instead, seems a little too convenient with Kersey moving to another city, free to start all over again.

This film isn’t a complete write-off, but it is easy to see why director Michael Winner is now more famous for his Car Insurance ads.

If you grew up with this film and regard it as a classic, I apologize. Maybe if I’d watched it twenty years ago, I’d feel the same.

Verdict 4/10
A bit of a let down, to be honest.