Dr. Paul Kersey is a surgeon who often sees the consequences of the city's violence in the emergency room. When home intruders brutally attack his wife and young daughter, Kersey becomes obsessed with delivering vigilante justice to the perpetrators.
The 1974 film "Death Wish" is a real classic and starring Charles Bronson clearly made the film good enough to have itself a sequel - nearly 40 years later. However, does this film follow in the popular, high rated steps of the prequel? The short answer is a simple no.
The film really fell short of its prequel and left me wondering if I should've stayed in at home, I really didn't enjoy it at all if you haven't noticed! Throughout the film I was left with many questions, why were they attacking Dr Paul Kersey's house? What was the relevance of handing over $2000 dollars? Why did Dr Paul Kersey suddenly take matters into his own hands? And how did he not get arrested or even killed by the people who knew his real identity? Leaving the cinema with plenty of questions about the film is either a sign of a great film or a poor plot and this film certainly had many issues, although I must say the girls football team at the start of the film did look to be playing much better than some football I've seen from my local team this season! It wasn't all negative stuff from this film though, I did get a few positives although they were rare and far between. I feel that the stand out actor within the film - Bruce Willis was good in this film, he really stood out to me as the perfect character for this role due to his aggressive film appeal mixed with the generous, successful family man that we saw glimpses of throughout the film. I really struggled not to laugh when I saw him in a doctors uniform though, it really was not his style at all and it showed when he towered over all of the other doctors and nurses in the hospital.
Bruce Willis was definitely the key to the success (if I could say that) to the film, however other characters such as the lazy detectives really didn't offer much to the film apart from a few unfunny jokes and this really brought the film down because the whole success of the film was ruined due to the lazy, boring characters within the film. When other similar films have used these side characters to their advantage and really shows the importance of engaging and relatable characters for the audience to enjoy the film. The detectives didn't offer much to the film if anything... I also really liked the use of non-diegetic sound throughout the film, I feel that the choice of audio for the home invasion scenes was perfect as it didn't give too much away but it made me feel on edge and left the audience expecting a sudden change. But leaving them guessing, I really liked that about this film. The use of audio from a variety of different sources and the camera shots to establish the scene at the beginning of the film was really good too, I really feel that these helped to create a tense and engaging set of scenes at the start of the film which I liked, however, this went downhill as the film progressed. A negative element of this film and probably the biggest letdown was the plot holes.
The film left me asking so many questions as to why that happened and what relevance certain scenes had to the overall film. For me, the story moved really quickly, and personally, for me, it was just far too quick. Dr Kersey went from being a respected doctor to a killer in a few minutes and even though his wife had been killed I still feel the transition from a lifesaver to a life taker was just far too quick. These plot holes and questions led me to question whether the plot of the film even made sense, I mean anyone would be angry and scared after a home invasion but even so, would it make you want to go after the people and kill them? May I add in some really grim ways that may have been a bit over the top when instead they could have focused the film on creating a basic storyline that made sense to everyone. The plot, in theory, makes sense and really seems intriguing, but I just feel it was executed poorly and incorrectly made.
Although like I said maybe it was just me that didn't really understand the plot? Maybe you thought it was really good if you've watched it? That's what I love about film, how you can leave a cinema and the person you're with could be in tears from emotions in the film they've just seen but you're just not upset or sad at all, and you can debate for hours about who’s right and who’s wrong but everyone has their own opinion. As I've said I really liked the cinematography in this film though, I loved the use of pan shots and establishing the scenes and the second home invasion was no different by putting the audience in the shoes of Bruce Willis where at any point someone could step out and shoot him in the head and it's game over. Although I didn't enjoy seeing one of the criminals falling off the stairs and seeing his neck at a complete 90-degree angle, that was nasty!! Overall the film really had potential and even though I really wanted to like it and to be fair I did like the cinematography and audio effects.
The plot holes and the lacklustre characters really just pulled the film back which really caused the film to fall short and an embarrassing remake of the classic. I wasn't too sure about the location either, even though it was presented well why does every American family live in the same massive house with a European car on the same street?
That's how bad the film was, that I was asking myself questions like that instead of watching it properly... Quick side note, the main villain character really looked like G Eazy, I half expected him to break out of character and start singing ‘Me, Myself and I’ when he was in the elevator with the people who didn't know that he was the one who tried to rob and kill them. I honestly could go on all day about the plot holes and issues with the story in this film but I'm not going to because let's face it, you've got things to do. Overall I would give this film a 5.5 out of 10, leaving me wondering why they even bothered.
Thanks for reading this and have a lovely day! :)
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