"This Film Should Be Played Loud"

By jettisoning the cruel streak that plagued the first two movies and instilling it with a heavy dosage of Cannon Films bombast, the Death Wish series finally delivers a flat-out good time with Death Wish 3. This is easily the funniest one so far. Winner even indulges in a few sight gags (Marty Balsam with a huge gun!) By the time Bronson is draping a chain of bullets around his neck and wielding a gatling gun and rocket launcher, it’s clear we are knee deep in 1980s madness. Kersey’s foes this time are a gang of street hoodlums who zip around on motorbikes and wield chains axes and baseball bats. It’s not far from Charles Bronson vs. The Warriors. The end is an all out bullet ballet of street warfare with cars being transformed into bullet-riddled tin cans and molotov cocktails flung around like tennis balls. There’s also a formidable villain at the head of it all giving Kersey’s vigilanteism an actual target this time rather than a faceless army of thugs. There’s that too, and one of them isn’t faceless because he’s Alex Winter! A fun time serving of Cannon Films entertainment, but as dumb as a bag of hammers.

Watched on blu-ray.

Even more preposterous, crueler and nastier than the first film, Death Wish II somehow manages to be better than its predecessor, or at least more enjoyable and memorable, by doubling down on Winner’s impulses to the point where the whole thing is just ridiculous. The extended rape scene is infamous for its unwavering and gleeful savagery but the opening act’s trawl through a series of ever-increasingly bleak scenarios plays like some sort of dark joke. Rape, murder, rape, attack, rape suicide, and on it goes. The 80s setting also adds a welcome visual alternative to the gritty blandness that usually comes with this material. Seeing Bronson stalk around neon-lit streets, brushing shoulders with punks and new-wave thugs certainly has its pleasures. Oh and why not throw in a droning Jimmy Page score for good measure. Might as well!

As with the previous Death Wish, the plot and violence are stupid but unlike that film this one seems to be in on that silliness with a certain level of knowing, making the whole thing go down easier. There are scrappy fistfights and people getting electrocuted as well as Kersey’s clueless new wife (he moved on fast!) being totally oblivious to her husband’s nocturnal activities, ignoring all the evidence staring her in the face and choosing instead to just smile through all of his half-assed explanations. At the very end of the film Bronson is asked if can make a birthday party happening the following week. He smiles to camera and mugs, “what else would I be doing?” Finally, he seems to understand what kind of movie he’s starring in.

Watched on blu-ray.