Review of “Death Wish”

* * * B

Death Wish is a remake of the 1974 film starring Charles Bronson. This time, Dr. Paul Kersey is played by Bruce “McClane” Willis. The movie does a good job of updating this tale of revenge where a man whose wife is killed and whose daughter is put in a coma by vicious thieves turns vigilante of the streets of Chicago. There are some interesting twists. Kersey is no longer given his gun by a friend. He has to deal with people with cell phones filming him. Yet the core of the story remains.

If you like films like Taken, you’ll probably enjoy Deathwish. One of the most fascinating things about the film is that, despite a fresh 75% audience rating on Rotten Tom, critics gave it a staggering 18% rotten. This shows how out of touch the critics are with the average person. If you look at their criticisms, few have anything to do with the film.

“Death Wish” is a catechism for an audience terrified that their firepower and their influence are dwindling — Ty Burr

Only people who like guns could possibly want to see a film about a vigilante. Must be why Taken was so successful.

The film cranks up the audience with little jokes and references, and gets the audience cheering for the Grim Reaper before they even realize what they’re cheering for — and therein lies the problem — Katie Walsh

What is the problem with cheering for a man who takes revenge on criminals for killing his wife and almost killing his daughter?

Despite all the worries that this would be nothing more than an alt-right wet dream in which Bruce Willis guns down scores of blacks and Muslims, the film is actually restrained in such matters — Matt Brunson

This is a Hollywood movie. Who worried that it would do this?

Aimed squarely at drunk uncles and alt-right fanboys across America, Death Wish is a film with truly toxic understandings of masculinity, justice and gun rights in America — Tom Augustine

This film is a revenge fantasy. Get a grip.

An immature, sophomoric male fantasy about solving all of life’s problems with a gun — Felix Vasquez Jr.

Because all of life’s problems can be solved with girl power.

This is the state of main stream media criticism. Pathetic.

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