Death Wish

Just a friendly reminder to not remake classic films.

Another bad retelling worse than the others.

Based on the 1974 film, Death Wish stars Bruce Willis as a surgeon-turned-vigilante looking to avenge/protect his wife and daughter after a brutal burglary. It was directed by Eli Roth and didn't make much of a dent at the box-office upon its release. Although there is always a market for revenge movies, even if those basically tell the exact same story every time, Death Wish still feels like an oddly timed reboot. From the trailers, there didn't seem to be anything all that new or special about this particular retelling. That said, a director like Eli Roth might have been able to introduce a schlocky quality to things, thereby making the film a bit more fun so there was always that chance. Indeed, the film tries some different things here and there, though it remains bogged down by the uninspired premise throughout. We are quickly introduced to Dr. Paul Kersey's (Willis) family and given enough time to enjoy their company before the bad stuff happens. Paul is initially portrayed as a pretty nice guy who doesn't jump into needless confrontations. When his wife is killed and his daughter is seriously hurt then hospitalized, he goes on a revenge mission, learning about guns on the internet along the way. Because, as we all know, there's nothing more entertaining than seeing someone watch YouTube videos.. This is a much dumber movie than it should have been or, dare I say, could have been? There were a couple of ways to go in order to make this an engaging reimagining and the film attempts both, without any real commitment or consistency, making it a bit of a bumpy ride. Approaching this in a serious, gritty way à la Edge Of Darkness or Death Sentence could have been one way to go but Eli Roth only goes there very briefly, when he needs some kind of dramatic moment. You can tell he really wants to go full Grindhouse with this but he stops short of that as well so you end up with an uneven, partly-serious, partly-ridiculous shoulder shrug of a movie when, had it picked a tone, it could have been so much more. The bad guy death scenes are straight out of a cartoon between the Home Alone-style blunders and the goofy gore effects but nothing else in the movie stands out. Bruce Willis gives a reliably not-that-interested performance and the likes of Elisabeth Shue and Vincent D'Onofrio aren't given particularly meaty roles to sink their teeth into. This new Death Wish may not be the worst revenge movie out there but it's certainly not very good. It manages to be watchable but falls flat in every respect. You can tell there's a much better film in there somewhere and, incidentally, it's also called Death Wish. Passable.

The message of this movie is what will wake society back up!

The greatest 01 hour: and 47 minutes ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love Bruce Willis and really enjoyed this remake. Good action flick!

Real good movie as usual critics got it wrong, but the public knows what's up...

It was a great watch. Really good one. It has scenes which were really cool as well as containing great plot writing.

Great movie. Can see why the leftie critics hate it. The left love criminals.

The film did very well for me, with good old Bruce Willis. At the first 20 minutes it was odd to see Bruce as a doctor saving lives. But as the plot goes, the ass-kicking Bruce is back ! The actions were short but well carried, just like what a real-life gun shooting and vigilante would do. No gimmicks, just aim and shoot. In short, any man with a killed wife and a bedridden daughter will surely hunt down the robbers whom did all that, in cold blood. Its very real !