Death Wish 2

Rating:
Summary: Bronson's Vigilante Workout
Review: "Death Wish 2" (1982) is an inept piece of filmmaking. This contrived sequel looks as though it was photographed, edited and scored by pornographers. Charles Bronson has a few memorable one-liners, but that's about it. Strictly amateur night.

Rating:
Summary: Bronson's Vigilante Workout
Review: "Death Wish II" is an inept piece of filmmaking. In fact, this contrived sequel looks as though it was photographed, edited and scored by pornographers. Charles Bronson has a few memorable one-liners, but that's about it. Strictly amateur night.

Rating:
Summary: Fun, sun, and vigilantism
Review: A discussion of Charles Bronson that fails to mention the "Death Wish" series isn't really a discussion at all. The first entry in this seminal series arrived on the scene in 1974 during a period in American history when all types of crimes skyrocketed. We can thank the moral laxity inflicted on the rest of us by the Counterculture for the increased numbers of murders, arsons, burglaries, robberies, rapes, and countless other forms of physical and mental assaults that soon became common occurrences on every street in the country. A large percentage of the population, referred to by Nixon as "The Silent Majority," ached to find a way to fight back against the vermin committing these atrocities. Since our embrace of vigilante justice faded away due to the abuses of lynching in the South, and our legal system began letting the scum back out on the streets, only Hollywood seemed to offer refuge to the growing number of victims. Enter the revenge and vigilante genre, the most notable entries of which consisted of the Clint Eastwood "Dirty Harry" pictures. In these films, a cop or outraged citizen would hunt down criminals outside the law, meting out a savage brand of justice we could all cheer about.

By 1982, crime rates were still high enough to warrant another "Death Wish" film. Enter "Death Wish 2," a picture that finds New York City vigilante Paul Kersey pulling up roots from the place of his first exile (Chicago) in order to head to sunnier digs in Southern California. Los Angeles provides our architect with a new outlook on life, a place where he can tend to his still mentally and physically damaged daughter Carol (Robin Sherwood in this outing) and his new girlfriend Geri Nichols (Jill Ireland). In fact, Paul and Geri hope to wed one day. Unfortunately, a curse falls on the House of Kersey when a crew of mangy vermin, the most important member being Cutter (Laurence Fishburne), invades our hero's bungalow. The gang brutalizes Kersey's maid Rosario and abducts the shattered Carol. In the process of submitting Paul's daughter to an indignity nearly identical to the horrors she suffered in the first film, the poor young lady takes her life by plunging out of a warehouse window. Predictably, Kersey arrives home to find a deceased Rosario stretched out in the hallway and his daughter gone. Within a few minutes the authorities break the sad news to Paul; they found his daughter's body outside of a known gang hideout. The horrors of New York are starting all over again, and Paul Kersey must once again go forth and battle the forces of evil.

Unlike in the first film, Kersey specifically targets the criminals responsible for the slaying of his daughter. He finds out where they hang out and rents a grungy hotel room in the area to serve as a base of operations. Every night Paul drives down there, dons a knit cap and dark duds, and roams the streets looking for riffraff. As soon as he stumbles over one of the thugs in question, he pulls out a gun and dispatches them with extreme prejudice. The police, led by Lieutenant Mankiewicz (Ben Frank), take note of the sudden rash of killings and start to put the pieces together, namely that a vigilante is working the city streets. Kersey's name soon pops up, thanks to his reputation from New York years earlier, and the authorities bring in Inspector Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia) from the first film to help them put a stop to Paul's rampages. Kersey becomes aware of Ochoa's presence, leading to a cat and mouse game that threatens Paul's ability to wreak vengeance on his enemies. Nonetheless, after a shootout gives Kersey a temporary respite from the attention of the authorities our man continues to hunt down his enemies. He goes so far as to infiltrate a mental hospital to pursue a victim, but his single-minded pursuit carries personal costs in his relationship with Geri Nichols.

It's obvious from the start that the makers of "Death Wish 2" went straight for the sleaze effect. The first film sought to examine crime and vigilantism in a serious way, even going so far as to have the Paul Kersey character become physically ill after attacking a criminal. "Death Wish 2" throws all introspection out the window, replacing a message with gory deaths and memorable one-liners rivaling anything Dirty Harry ever tossed out. Carol's death scene is particularly tough to watch, as are the atrocities visited upon the poor Rosario. The dialogue is magnificent in an extraordinarily entertaining way. "Goodbye" says Paul Kersey immediately before pulling the trigger on a helpless thug twisting in pain on the floor of a warehouse. "Do you believe in Jesus?" asks Kersey of another goon, who replies with "Yes, yes I do." "Well, you're going to meet him," responds our vigilante as he opens fire. Great stuff! This isn't dialogue churned out by some hack; it's holy scripture chiseled on stone tablets that someone carried down from a mountaintop. If you can get your mind around the idea that "Death Wish 2" is completely devoid of a message, you'll love this movie. Too, make sure and listen to the Jimmy Page soundtrack; you'll hear it again in "Death Wish 3."

My only problem with the "Death Wish 2" DVD, aside from the unacceptable fullscreen presentation and a trailer as the only extra, concerns MGM's inexplicable decision to put an edited version of the film on the disc. I remember seeing a more vicious version of the film back on cable in the mid 1980s, mainly one with a longer sequence involving the gang and Rosario, which obviously didn't make it to the DVD. Why MGM saw fit to give us this version is a mystery. Nevertheless, "Death Wish 2" is highly entertaining; it's must see viewing for Bronson fans.



Rating:
Summary: Don't mess with Bronson's traumatized daughter!
Review: Apparently the punks in L.A know nothing about Bronson and how he'll turn you into Bisquick if you harass his family(or what's now left of it). Yup, this time around he's moved to the city of angels with his catatonic daughter, but the vacation ends quickly. In a stroke of rotten luck(which Bronson excels in), his home is broken into(AGAIN!!) and Lawrence Fishburne and a few other assorted punks kidnap and rape his daughter(AGAIN!!!), but not before assaulting the housekeeper. Well, since not all of her dogs are barking this time, his daughter decides to kill herself before more harm can come to her. Naturally, Bronson doesn't like this much. He gives one of his ol' "Gosh darn it, I'm gonna have to slaughter more punks" looks, and away we go. He's alot less awkward about it this time around, coz he's an old hat at this now. The rest is pretty much what you'd expect from this kind of thing. By the end of the film, his newly acquired girlfriend ditches him coz she finds out who he really is. This guy has zero luck with women. And what's with all these commie schmucks whining about how "disgusting" and "violent" this film is? Sure this movie goes for the throat, but haven't we all seen worse in terms of violence? If you ask me, the torture scene in Reservoir Dogs pretty much tops anything you see here. That's the problem with action films anymore-They are way too tame with violent and intense subject matter that's not supposed to be tame at all! ...

Rating:
Summary: Great follow up to the classic 1974 Death Wish!!!
Review: Between the music, the action, the scenery, the movie is a smash. I think what makes this an effective sequel and movie on itself is the guys they cast as the muggers like Kevin Major Howard, Stuart Robbinson, and Larry Fishburne. They all look sleazy, tough and dangerous. I mean would you like to meet the character played by Kevin Major Howard in a dark alley somewhere in Brooklyn. I think not. In addition, the movie has some great lines it. Definately together with the first it is the best in the series and one of the greatest in the entire genre.

Rating:
Summary: Sadomasochistic brilliance
Review: Bronson is back blastin' punks! What could be better than that!? NOTHING! This is highly enjoyable stuff! Nobody kills scum like Bronson! The entire Death Wish series is highly recommended to those who hate slime-balls and wanna see 'em exterminated in highly entertaining ways. Bronson's vigilante vengeance just got better from here on. Like this one? Wait until ya get a load of Death Wish 3!

Rating:
Summary: vile, vicious, and very entertaining
Review: Death Wish 2 is a different movie from the first Death Wish and trades in social commentary for violent entertainment value, and after watching it you may feel like you actually spent time in a seedy alley in the wrong end of town. Paul Kersey was elevated to the level of folk hero as the Death Wish movies continued, but bang was always delivered for my buck as was laughter with the more ridiculous moments. The worst crime a film can commit is being dull and Death Wish 2 may not be art, but it's not dull. Scummy, but very entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: You'll need a hot shower after viewing this scummy classic
Review: DEATH WISH 2 is one of those movies that screams "CASH GRAB!". The late, great Charlie Bronson is reteamed with Michael Winner and Hal Landers and Bobby Roberts (DEATH WISH 1), along with the immortal team of Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus (most of Bronson's 80's flix, ditto Chuck Norris, AMERICAN NINJA series et al) for this thoroughly scummy retread of the original.
There is a difference however: DW2 is purely for exploitation value, and is certainly not a movie to be watched with Mum (especially my Mum, or my Grandmas- maternal or paternal).
The plot is practically identical. Charlie and his reporter girlfriend (Jill Ireland) take his daughter Carol (Robin Sherwood- betcha ten bucks that isn't her real name)- still institutionalized after being assaulted in DW1- on an outing to the market. However at the market Charlie runs afoul of a band of scummy pot smoking muggers one of them played by a young Larry Fishburne- (Laurence Fishburne the 3rd, thank you very much!) who blast Jimmy Page's "Jam Sandwich" on their retro 80s ghetto blaster. The thugs steal Charlie's ice cream money, but also his wallet.
Unfortunately the thugs get Charlie's address from his ID and head to his house, break in and gang rape his maid, Rosario (Silvana Gallardo). A rather icky scene. Unlike the brief bash round the head in the first movie, the rape scenes here are extended (in NZ the film runs 87 mins- there's actually FIVE MINUTES of rape missing! Gross!).
Then Carol is abducted by the thugs and raped again, and while fleeing the sexual sadists runs through a window and is convieniently impaled on an iron picket fence.
Meanwhile the cops are at Kersy's house, when he is called in to identify Carol's body. (Considering where the LOCATION of the corpse was it's pretty easy to finger the gang, isn't it?). But no, this is a DEATH WISH movie, the cops are DUMB. Charlie makes up a story about blacking out, but of course he remembers everything. And it's not long before he hits the streets of LA with his trusty .44 Magnum, hunting down the scum and blowing several shades of poop out of them (Fishburne's "death" gives a new meaning to "Ghetto Blaster"!).
Highly recommended, even if it's cheap, inept, sadistic and bloody. Viewer discretion is advised though. The music (another high point) is by Jimmy Page of Led Zep. I just found it odd how NZ's censors didn't add a warning note about the sexual violence in the film. (And while we're on that subject, I wanna see IRREVERSIBLE.....and LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT.... and VISITOR Q... and DRILLER KILLER .... and
(Oh shut up Vidiot you dozy liberal prat!)
OK. Must go now. My tea's getting cold and I've just been threatened with a smack upside the head with a rolling pin. Make sure you check out DEATH WISH 2. Despite it's violence its utterly compelling. If you think otherwise, well you know how to contact me.

Rating:
Summary: best of the series
Review: Death Wish II is my favorite episode in the highly entertaining series. It's a shame that MGM did not release Death Wish II in letter-boxed format and that the version on the DVD seems to be an edited one. At the same time, I'm very happy that they released all the Death Wishes on DVD and I'm used to seeing the full screen versions and don't miss the moments cut from the graphic rape scene in Death Wish II one bit.

Rating:
Summary: perfect revenge movie
Review: Death Wish was an excellent movie that told the story of mild mannered common man Paul Kersey driven to become a vigilante after the murder of his wife and rape of his daughter. Death Wish is very artistic and was a hit that spawned 4 sequels. Death Wish 2 set the pattern for the other movies in the series and is a different type of film from the first. The second Death Wish falls into the category of revenge films and has a gritty look to it that captures the rawness of it's subject. Some have complained about the look of the film, but it serves to make it much more visceral from the first film and one of the grittiest films ever made. There's a disturbing snuff film/documentary feel about Death Wish 2 which both repulses and transfixes, and at the same time the film also works on a much more unreal level as a revenge fantasy.
In the first film Kersey never catches the thugs who destroyed his family, but in Death Wish 2 his revenge isn't just aimed at random criminals, but at specific thugs responsible for his daughter's death. The first Death Wish was about Kersey's transformation into a vigilante, but Death Wish 2 is about hunting down specific guilty criminals and seeing that they pay for their crimes. There have been many revenge films, but there's just something much more satisfying about the way justice is served in the Death Wish series than in other films. William Lustig's Vigilante is another good film of this type as is The Exterminator, but Death Wish 2, like the rest of the series, really provides the audience with a satisfying feeling of justice. The combination of the hyper real and the fantastic make Death Wish 2 compelling viewing. As a cinematic revenge fantasy it's the best of it's kind.