Today’s quick review: Death Wish. Dr. Paul Kersey (Bruce Willis), a Chicago surgeon, takes the law into his own hands when a trio of robbers kill his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and put his daughter (Camila Morrone) into a coma. Paul arms himself and heads to the seediest parts of town to hunt for the culprits, exacting brutal justice from the criminals he encounters along the way. But his mission grows harder as the police close in on his identity.
Death Wish is a gritty action movie about a family man who resorts to violent means to avenge an attack on his wife and daughter. Bruce Willis stars as Paul Kersey, a mild-mannered surgeon driven to action by a horrific crime the police have no hope of solving. His transformation from ordinary man to killer, with all the good and bad that entails, is the movie’s chief appeal. However, the odd blend of realism and escapism won’t appeal to everyone.
Death Wish has an ambivalent relationship with vigilante violence. On the one hand, Paul’s actions are depicted as a necessary evil, just punishment delivered to criminals the police can’t touch. On the other hand, his actions take him down a dark path that threatens to consume his life and destroy what little he has left. The contrast between the two perspectives gives Death Wish more weight than the typical action movie, if not more depth.
How this plays out in practice is that Death Wish vacillates between a traditional action movie and a more grounded crime drama. Paul’s confrontations with criminals are violent, satisfying pieces of action, albeit without the excesses afforded by a better-trained hero. However, the consequences of his deeds fall much closer to the crime genre, dealing with the personal cost of his crimes and questions of conscience regarding vigilante justice.
The end result is a peculiar but fairly effective spin on the action genre. Death Wish lacks the carefree mayhem of the best action films and the depth and nuance of the best crime dramas, but it borrows elements from both in a way that mostly works. How much you get out of the movie will depend on your taste in genre and tone, but action fans who don’t mind a dash of seriousness should give it a shot.
For another, more sober tale of vigilante justice, try The Brave One. For a lower-budget and somewhat less successful take on a similar premise, try Rage or Acts of Vengeance. For a gorier, more twisted revenge story, try Oldboy.
6.4 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.5 to 7.0 for decent mixture of action and drama.