Death Wish
Bruce Willis stars in Eli Roth’s pointless and repugnant remake of the 1974 thriller.
Bruce Willis has a thought
Bruce Willis stars in this pointless remake of Michael Winner’s controversial 1974 revenge thriller as Paul Kersey, a doctor saving lives in an emergency room (rather than Charles Bronson’s architect of the original). After his wife Lucy (Elizabeth Shue) has been brutally murdered by a gang of thieves, Kersey decides to take the law into his own hands and so becomes a vigilante determined to clear the streets of Chicago of thugs and murderers.
Director Eli Roth delivers the action efficiently but there are some scenes that leave a really bad taste in the mouth, especially considering the current anti-gun campaign in America. A busty blonde on television advertises guns as if she were selling sexy lingerie and later on she is eager to sell a machine gun or any other gun to Kersey when he visits her shop. There is also a scene with Lucy’s father after her funeral – one moment he is grieving about the loss of his daughter and talking of God and the next, like a character from a horror movie, he gets his rifle out to shoot some trespassers. Distasteful!
GEORGE SAVVIDES
Cast: Bruce Willis, Vincent D'Onofrio, Elisabeth Shue, Dean Norris, Kimberly Elise, Mike Epps, Camila Morrone, Beau Knapp, Wendy Crewson, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Len Cariou.
Dir Eli Roth, Pro Roger Birnbaum, Screenplay Joe Carnahan, Ph Rogier Stoffers, Pro Des Paul Kirby, Ed Mark Goldblatt, Music Ludwig Göransson, Costumes Mary Jane Fort.
Cave 76 Productions/MGM Studios-Vertigo Releasing.
107 mins. USA. 2018. Rel: 6 April 2018. Cert. 15.
