Review of Death Wish (2018) by Daniel L — 02 Mar 2018

"Death Wish" (R, 1:47) is an action crime drama (revenge thriller), a remake of the 1974 Charles Bronson movie (which was, in turn, based on a 1972 novel of the same name by Brian Garfield). With the raw, high-quality direction of Eli Roth - and Bruce Willis in the lead (and the fact that Bronson himself made five of these movies over a 20-year period) - I smell a new franchise for the erstwhile John McClane.

The name of the lead character, Paul Kersey, remains the same, but Willis doesn't play an architect whose family was attacked (as Bronson did), but rather a trauma surgeon... whose family is attacked. After the obligatory (and effective) scenes of Dr. Kersey and his family (wife played by Oscar nominee Elisabeth Shue and high school-aged daughter played by Camilla Morrone), the aforementioned attack occurs, the result of a home invasion that takes place while Paul is working in the E.R. When his wife and daughter are brought in to his hospital, Paul reacts to the aftermath like most fathers would, accepting comfort from his brother (Emmy nominee Vincent D'Onofrio) and trusting in the professionalism of two cops (Dean Norris and Kimberly Elise), but Paul's faith and patience with Chicago's finest has its limits.

With no leads that he can pursue himself, and increasingly disgusted by the violence on the mean streets of Chicago, he hesitantly starts carrying a gun - his first gun - which he barely knows how to use. When Paul happens across a car-jacking in progress and takes action to stop it - and makes sure that the perps can never jack another car again - the incident is captured on video (natch), but Paul was wearing a hoody, so he becomes known around Chicago as "The Grim Reaper". Chicago talk-radio personalities debate whether this mysterious vigilante is a good guy or a bad guy, even as he gets more aggressive in meting out justice. He becomes aware of some wrongs that need righted through the course of his regular duties at the hospital, which is how he also happens across leads that may give him the chance to avenge his wife and daughter - if he can do so before the police figure out who the Grim Reaper is.

"Death Wish" is a fairly entertaining revenge flick. As with all such movies, we enjoy living vicariously through the main character as we watch him do things that we would never do... but sometimes wish we could. Willis isn't playing a superhuman here - just an ordinary guy in an extraordinary situation who gradually, reluctantly rises to the challenge of what he feels he must do. His character being a surgeon introduces an interesting dichotomy between saving lives and taking lives - and means Paul has the know-how to get away with his extracurricular activities. All this humanizes his character and makes him more relatable. While not crossing over into action movie camp, some of the circumstances and dialog feel contrived and unrealistic, but it's still fun to watch. "B".