Death Wish 4 - Das Weiße im Auge

After death wish 2 and 3 came out, the series seemed, to well, have a death wish. 2 was unremarkable, and 3 cared more about a very high body count then anything. Unlike in 3, the relationship between Kay Lenz's character and Kersey doesn't seemed forced, doesn't seem like ti was tacked on like the third entry. the fourth entry seemed to be a better level then the previous. Not as good as the first, face it, hardly any action flick with a vigilanty storyline as been as good as the first death wish, the 4th one makes kersey a little more human. You want him to find those responsible for the death of his girlfriends's teen daughter. You cheer when he gets the bad guy. Personally, I would to have loved to have seen a little more interaction between Bronson and Soon Tek-oh, perhaps one of the most underrated supporting actors in movie history. Overall a decent little flick that doesn't try to outsmart itself.

Now if you expect to watch some Academy Award material here, stop reading and buy and rent something else. But if you want action-book material on the telly, this might just be the right stuff. Kersey is back, this time fighting two cocaine-gangs. Lee Thompson's directing is much more adequate than with several other Bronson-vehicles, the picture has a story to tell (whereas part 3 was just video game material) and fortunately it brings in Kay Lenz in a supporting role instead of trying to fit in Mrs Bronson (Jill Ireland) again. With nasty villains and one or two dumb police-officers we have an evening with some nice twists, shoot outs and a really good and original opening scene. Production values must have been up as well. Apart from the original this one outranks # 2.3 & 5 by far. Recommended.

"Death Wish 4" is easily my favorite of the DW series, even though I really like most of the first entry. But you see, I find graphic, luridly depicted rape in films distasteful. I could take it in the first film, because there was at least some thematic and emotional need for it (though I still think it was overboard and gratuitous). Parts 2 and 3 escalated the rape and humiliation sequences and writer/director Michael Winner actually seemed to be trying to get us to enjoy the sight of tortured, crying, beaten, naked woman as much as he obviously did; combine this with zero plot, zero character development, and inept action, and you had some really, really bad flicks. Number four was directed by J. Lee Thompson, a frequent collaborator with Bronson since 1976's "St. Ives." Thompson took the usual DW revenge formula, eliminated the obligatory rape sequence, and ratcheted up the action. So what we have is a Death Wish picture more similar to "Murphy's Law" than any of the other films in the series. Of course Bronson's 80s films are often the butt of jokes (to those who remember them at all, that is) but I happen to enjoy them immensely--there's just something I dig about this charismatic, elderly guy running around shooting bad guys; I can't even explain it. If you dig the salt and pepper Bronson as well, then give DW4 a try.

No home invasion for the first time in these. Although I guess drugs entering ones system, can be viewed as an invasion too, yes? I'll leave that up to you. The movies and Charles Bronson hit a nerve, with cracking down on criminals. Now I assume many things will not sit well with people and their views today and maybe further in the future, but it is what it is.

When Bronson has someone near to him being harmed, he goes ballistic. Though as we know from the first movie, he does not have any love left for the people he would consider scum. This mixes a bit of what made westerns succesful. So after being inspired by Dirty Harry, this has also elements of the Man with No name trilogy by ... Clint Eastwood. At least that is what you can call Bronson playing two sides of crime families ... nice touch overall if you are not too sensitive

Here's a far different Death Wish, to the former three. Yes, crack has claimed the life of another person, Bronson's close to, that being the daughter (Vacation's Barron) of his new girlfriend (Lenz). So Charlie goes undercover to bust the bastards, after being enlisted by a guy (John P Ryan) who lost his son to crack. Of course, much more realistic to bubblegum pic, number 3 (my favorite) this entry, sees a wearied Bronson, doing what he does best, playing Mr Cliché tough guy, where the movie really goes into the drug problem, but more so just has Charlie, kicking arse. He masquerades as a bartender to a playboy drug kingpin, who became his cop partner, in J Lee Thompson's next flick, Kinjite, where later Charlie is played for a sucker. Just watching the party scene, we can patently see, Charlie would rather be somewhere else, but if you're a desperate or more so is the case here, typecast actor, you have to take what you can get. Too this Death Wish has a nice twist near the end, I liked, something you never would of expected in this, though this film is far from the superior original. I think with watching this forth one, here's a good time for Charlie to hang up his boots and be done with this franchise, in what is an interesting and not badly made pic. Sadly it wasn't, with the desperate and final entry six years later, the sickest Death Wish yet. Death wish fans will still be content here, especially when Charlie brings out the big guns, reprising his role, as Mr Vigilante Paul Kersey, one of his greatest acting performances, ever.