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.

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.

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown, is a surprisingly entertaining entry in the series, Despite not being Directed by Michael Winner who directed the first 3 movies, Of all of the Films in the Series this one is one of the best however it seem's to have one of the Lowest Critical Ratings (the lowest Being Death Wish 5) Which i really don't understand because i really Found this one Entertaining, but I think i know where the critical Lambasting came from, when the Film came out, it was 1987 during that time It seemed that Drugs particularly cocaine were advertised as a major problem in Society (Without a doubt Drugs are a Major problem, but they are not the only problem in society)and During this time both TV And Film were Advertising this and I think people were tired of hearing about it, and Death Wish 4 is no Exception regarding making Anti-Drug Statements , However the Drug Statement Is not the Only thing that Critics had with it, it was also the Fact that this was 4th film in the series and I guess they Just Got tired of the series (Oh, But No one Gets tired of the James Bond Or Godzilla Series!) Personally I'm all for Sequel's As long as they are entertaining and add some things that are new, and Death Wish 4 Does that.

The Plot Once again involves Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson)Now Living with a Girlfriend (Kay Lenz)in L.A,everything Seems to Be going Good for them until Kersey's Girlfriend's Daughter Dies From a Cocaine Overdose, Kersey Goes out to find the Pusher who sold her the Drugs and Kills him, however the next day Kersey gets a mysterious phone call from someone Claiming to know who Kersey is, and telling him to meet the caller at a specified address, he goes to the address and meets a Reporter who's Daughter also died from a Cocaine overdose, and with Kersey's Help wants revenge on the entire drug underworld. He offers Kersey Info on all the Drug Dealers in L.A as well as access to more weapons. Kersey Accepts the offer and goes on the Hunt to Destroy the entire Drug underworld.

Death Wish 4: The Crackdown, Is a welcoming Change to the Series, instead of having Kersey just killing Muggers and Rapists, we have him taking on an entire Drug Underworld in a reasonably Clever way, by setting up Rival Drug mobs against each other, the paranoia and Confusion between both the Drug Mobs is exciting and somewhat funny to watch, and the action this time is a little Lighter than the 3rd film but thats balanced out with Clever Set Pieces, Suspenseful Moments and Funny One Liners delivered from both Bronson and the Supporting Cast, but the action is still enjoyable despite it being a little toned down, and Bronson definitely seemed to be having more fun in this one than in the 3rd film, and another thing is there is not one rape scene in the entire film, well except in the opening scene there is an rape attempt but nothing graphic or as Shocking like the previous films (Thank God) If there's anything bad about the film it's very minor, The film isn't exactly original but things like Originality Don't Matter as long as they are not Blatantly Copied and in Death Wish 4 as far as i know it's certainly not, I did miss Jimmy Page's Score however, and the ending seemed Like a repeat of the 3rd film only not as good, but its not Unsatisfying. Bottom line the positives outweigh the Negatives.

OVERALL 6/10

"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.