Review of Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987) by Pasi Y — 22 Oct 2009

In Death Wish 4, Charles Bronson's epic action hero character, Paul Kersey, returns yet again to do his vigilante work. After his girlfriend's (classic actress Kay Lenz) daughter overdoses on cocaine and dies, a mysterious billionaire (additional classic actor John P.

Ryan) enlists Kersey to take down the two biggest drug kingpins in L.A., giving him full resources such as spy technology and mass amounts of weapons. And of course, Kersey systematically goes through many different henchmen, working his way to the top to destroy both sides, all while avoiding two detectives (George Dickerson & Soon-Tek Oh) who may or may not be corrupted.

Death Wish 4 is a surprisingly improved sequel over the first two, practically rivaling the original one. Though we are without the usual Death Wish director, Michael Winner, part 4 is fortunate enough to be helmed by the great J.

Lee Thompson, who's created hits all across the board like suspense (Cape Fear), science fiction (two Planet of the Apes sequels), horror (Happy Birthday to Me, and western (The Guns of Navarone).

There's a lot of great action as well as suspense that keeps the movie moving rather fast. I was really surprised by this as I thought it would eventually run out of steam. Two big rules when it comes to the Death Wish franchise: 1.

) Bronson is able to avoid hundreds of bullets flying at him flawlessly, and 2.) Bronson is not allowed to have relationships! Once again, familiar faces show up within the enemies Kersey fights through.

This time around is Danny Trejo (who's in just about everything) and Irwin Keyes (House of 1,000 Corpses) in small roles. Overall, Death Wish 4 is a fun and entertaining 80's actioner (though the last one to occur in said decade unfortunately).

Great film.