Death Wish
For the first film, I’m going to
take the easy way out and just use the basic plot synopsis, because if you
want more details you can check out Michael’s review of the
R1 DVD here.
Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) takes up
arms, vigilante justice style, when his family suffers a brutal and fatal
attack by a gang of punks (one of whom is a very young Jeff Goldblum).
He’s drive over the edge by this and takes to the streets to clean them
up and do what the police aren’t able to.
Death Wish II
The second film in the series picks up
eight years down the road as we find Paul Kersey working in Los Angeles,
far away from his past in New York and trying to start a new life. Sadly,
his daughter is traumatized from the events in the first one and is a bit
touched. One day, when Paul and his girlfriend Geri (Bronson’s real life
wife, Jill Ireland) take his daughter out to go boating, Paul runs afoul
of a gang of punks that end up stealing his wallet. He chases one of them
down but it’s not the one who got his wallet. Later that night, the same
gang uses Paul’s drivers license to track his address. They break in and
brutally rape his maid.
When Paul comes back to the house,
he’s knocked unconscious and the gang, who take her to their hideout,
kidnaps his daughter. While they’re there, they attempt to rape her but
she instead jumps out the window to her death.
These events obviously set Paul off,
and he takes to his old ways and sets out to get revenge, but it might not
be as easy as he thinks, as an old cop from NYC who was sure that Paul was
the vigilante from the first film, is helping the L.A.P.D. with their
investigation into the mounting pile of the vigilante’s victims.
A much harsher film than the first
entry in the series, Death Wish II is a violent and sleazy
affair. In particular, the rape scene involving the maid is quite grisly
and one can see why it was cut in the U.S. to obtain an R rating. It’s
also a little strange to see a young Laurence Fishburne play one of the
punks involved in it as well.
The unusual soundtrack by Jimmy Page
lends an appropriate air of grim to the film, with it’s bending guitars
and strange noises cued up at just the right moments. While not as
believable as the original Death
Wish, this sequel is still quite good and worth seeking out.
Bronson is reliable as always and plays a stone-faced killer with
conviction, while Ireland is her usual mediocre self on screen. Vincent
Gardenia reprises his role as Frank Ochoa, the NYC investigator on the
case, and likewise gives a good performance.
This DVD presents the film uncut in
its entirety save for a few minutes of dialogue that were supposedly only
ever present on the infamous Greek home video release. |
