In today’s times, people aren’t exactly in the mood for a story about a vigilante with a penchant for gun violence, even if his targets really, really deserve it. Now, in the 1970s, absolutely, which is why the Charles Bronson-starring Death Wish clicked with audiences in 1974 and why the Bruce Willis-starring Death Wish of 2018 did not.
Career-upgraded from Bronson’s architect, Willis’ Paul Kersey is an emergency-room surgeon whose hands are utilized for saving lives, not taking them. That changes, as things are wont to do when a home invasion by a group of masked thugs shatters his picture-perfect suburban life, sending his college-bound daughter (newcomer Camila Morrone) into a coma and his loving wife (Elisabeth Shue, Piranha 3D) to the morgue.
Kersey’s switch from family man to grieving retaliator is rather abrupt and, as Willis plays him, near-indeterminable, as his joyless demeanor gives way to a joyless demeanor, but now with a hoodie. Because the film is directed by Eli Roth (The Green Inferno), Kersey’s kills do not stay as mere point-and-shoot affairs, but setups rather elaborate for its real-world grounding. While inching into Hostel territory, they seem to be two complexity notches too short for inclusion in a Final Destination sequel.
Paul Kersey was Bronson’s signature role, and still would be even if its many sequels did not exist; surgeon Paul Kersey will be a footnote in Willis’ eventual obit, even if a follow-up improbably comes to fruition, partly because he’s barely trying beyond showing up. (Compare that to The Magnificent Seven’s Vincent D’Onofrio, who, in a thankless and underwritten role as Kersey’s brother, clearly is chomping at the bit for a Real Part.) Yet that is not to say the remake is a bad film — just a remarkably average one. The disowned screenplay by Joe Carnahan (Smokin’ Aces) offers no main villain, which makes the climax feel like none at all. Similarly, potential for satire is squandered when a subplot about a guns-and-ammo superstore is dropped as soon as it’s introduced.
As a result, the new Death Wish has none of the original’s power — just its “pow.” For that not-so-peaceful, uneasy feeling, your better bet is another picture also based on a Brian Garfield novel — just not the same one: the 2007 Kevin Bacon vehicle Death Sentence, from The Conjuring conjurer James Wan. —Rod Lott