Death Wish 2
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Movie Reviews of Death Wish 2
Movie Review: Kersey moves to L. A.
Summary: 5 Stars
Death Wish II DVD
By 1982, crime rates were still high enough to warrant another "Death Wish" film. Enter "Death Wish 2," a picture that finds New York City vigilante Paul Kersey pulling up roots from the place of his first exile (Chicago) in order to head to sunnier digs in Southern California. Los Angeles provides our architect with a new outlook on life, a place where he can tend to his still mentally and physically damaged daughter Carol (Robin Sherwood in this outing) and his new girlfriend Geri Nichols (Jill Ireland). In fact, Paul and Geri hope to wed one day. Unfortunately, a curse falls on the House of Kersey when a crew of mangy vermin, the most important member being Cutter (Laurence Fishburne), invades our hero's bungalow. The gang brutalizes Kersey's maid Rosario and abducts the shattered Carol. In the process of submitting Paul's daughter to an indignity nearly identical to the horrors she suffered in the first film, the poor young lady takes her life by plunging out of a warehouse window. Predictably, Kersey arrives home to find a deceased Rosario stretched out in the hallway and his daughter gone. Within a few minutes the authorities break the sad news to Paul; they found his daughter's body outside of a known gang hideout. The horrors of New York are starting all over again, and Paul Kersey must once again go forth and battle the forces of evil.
Unlike in the first film, Kersey specifically targets the criminals responsible for the slaying of his daughter. He finds out where they hang out and rents a grungy hotel room in the area to serve as a base of operations. Every night Paul drives down there, dons a knit cap and dark duds, and roams the streets looking for riffraff. As soon as he stumbles over one of the thugs in question, he pulls out a gun and dispatches them with extreme prejudice. The police, led by Lieutenant Mankiewicz (Ben Frank), take note of the sudden rash of killings and start to put the pieces together, namely that a vigilante is working the city streets. Kersey's name soon pops up, thanks to his reputation from New York years earlier, and the authorities bring in Inspector Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia) from the first film to help them put a stop to Paul's rampages. Kersey becomes aware of Ochoa's presence, leading to a cat and mouse game that threatens Paul's ability to wreak vengeance on his enemies. Nonetheless, after a shootout gives Kersey a temporary respite from the attention of the authorities our man continues to hunt down his enemies. He goes so far as to infiltrate a mental hospital to pursue a victim, but his single-minded pursuit carries personal costs in his relationship with Geri Nichols.
It's obvious from the start that the makers of "Death Wish 2" went straight for the sleaze effect. The first film sought to examine crime and vigilantism in a serious way, even going so far as to have the Paul Kersey character become physically ill after attacking a criminal. "Death Wish 2" throws all introspection out the window, replacing a message with gory deaths and memorable one-liners rivaling anything Dirty Harry ever tossed out. Carol's death scene is particularly tough to watch, as are the atrocities visited upon the poor Rosario. The dialogue is magnificent in an extraordinarily entertaining way. "Goodbye" says Paul Kersey immediately before pulling the trigger on a helpless thug twisting in pain on the floor of a warehouse. "Do you believe in Jesus?" asks Kersey of another goon, who replies with "Yes, yes I do." "Well, you're going to meet him," responds our vigilante as he opens fire. Great stuff! This isn't dialogue churned out by some hack; it's holy scripture chiseled on stone tablets that someone carried down from a mountaintop. If you can get your mind around the idea that "Death Wish 2" is completely devoid of a message, you'll love this movie. Too, make sure and listen to the Jimmy Page soundtrack; you'll hear it again in "Death Wish 3."
Recommended for Death Wish Fans and Charles Bronson fans.
Gunner January, 2008
Movie Review: Crime is like a disease, Meet the cure
Summary: 5 Stars
I would have to say that I not only like DEATH WISH 2 the best out of the whole DEATH WISH saga, this was probably my favorite Charles Bronson movie of them all that I've seen in my lifetime, plus this action flick takes me all the way back to memory lane when DEATH WISH II was released in the movies back in the early Spring of 1982 when we had all those budget cuts from the recession we had back in 1981-1982 during Ronald Reagan's presidency and when I saw this movie for the first time when it came out on HBO for the first time back in June 1983 when I was 10 going on 11 years old.
Another thing I liked about DEATH WISH 2 was how Paul Kersey(Charles Bronson) had moved away from New York City to L.A. to start a new life for him and his daughter, but ends up in the same kind of fix he was in on the East Coast when some relentless crooks instigate a problem with Paul Kersey(Charles Bronson) by robbing him and raping both his daughter & housekeeper, which ends up prompting Paul to avenge them and go back to his vigilante lifestyle that he did in the original DEATH WISH when the police are no help at all in DEATH WISH II.
In fact, it was kinda cool how Paul was a vigilante who was so slick on how he killed off all those relentless crooks who killed and raped both his maid & daughter and how he was able to succeed at getting those sadistic bastards where the police were failing and was never able to get caught by the cops either.
In addition to what made DEATH WISH 2 so intriguing was at the beginning of the movie, the newscasters were saying how crime was soaring big time in L.A., but later on the movie, the cops were saying that crimes had began to slump in LA, due to numerous sleazy criminals being afraid of being caught and killed by Paul.
The one thing that didn't make a lot of sense in this movie was the police always seemed to be more concerned about Paul's vigilantism and the crooks involved at the crime scene being killed or shot by Paul than they were about the innocent victims who were hurt by the gruesome criminals that killed and raped Paul's daughter & housekeeper, but I also liked the way Paul had gotten most of those malicious goones begging for mercy not to be killed just before Paul shot & killed them, since they got what they deserved.
The only thing I found to be a shame in this movie was Paul's fiancee(Jill Ireland) breaks off her engagement to Paul after catching him in a lie by finding a copy of a forged ID in the waste basket after hearing the grizzly news on the radio about Charles Wilson(Thomas Duffy) being killed at the same mental institution where Paul posed as a doctor and realizes that Paul has been lying to her about his whereabouts all along when she started getting suspicious about why Paul was becoming more and more distant from her, but it doesn't make sense why Paul acted like it didn't even faze him that his fiancee had broken off their engagement or his fiancee's reason why, since Paul didn't even look or act heartbroken at all, unlike how most people feel when their engagement is broken off in real life.
Movie Review: perfect revenge movie
Summary: 5 Stars
Death Wish was an excellent movie that told the story of mild mannered common man Paul Kersey driven to become a vigilante after the murder of his wife and rape of his daughter. Death Wish is very artistic and was a hit that spawned 4 sequels. Death Wish 2 set the pattern for the other movies in the series and is a different type of film from the first. The second Death Wish falls into the category of revenge films and has a gritty look to it that captures the rawness of it's subject. Some have complained about the look of the film, but it serves to make it much more visceral from the first film and one of the grittiest films ever made. There's a disturbing snuff film/documentary feel about Death Wish 2 which both repulses and transfixes, and at the same time the film also works on a much more unreal level as a revenge fantasy. In the first film Kersey never catches the thugs who destroyed his family, but in Death Wish 2 his revenge isn't just aimed at random criminals, but at specific thugs responsible for his daughter's death. The first Death Wish was about Kersey's transformation into a vigilante, but Death Wish 2 is about hunting down specific guilty criminals and seeing that they pay for their crimes. There have been many revenge films, but there's just something much more satisfying about the way justice is served in the Death Wish series than in other films. William Lustig's Vigilante is another good film of this type as is The Exterminator, but Death Wish 2, like the rest of the series, really provides the audience with a satisfying feeling of justice. The combination of the hyper real and the fantastic make Death Wish 2 compelling viewing. As a cinematic revenge fantasy it's the best of it's kind.
Movie Review: Bronson is one man judge, and 5 Stars
There been mix reviews on the dvd release. Some give it 1 star do to the rape scene being trimmed, or it's not in widescreen. I agree somewhat it would be nice to have this movie uncut, and widescreen. But according to movie censor reviews this was the best print MGM could find, and the rape scene being trim was not do to censorship. The movie is still a must own. Death Wish 2 Bronson's daughter is still traumatize about being rape. Bronson is confronted with a couple of thugs who steals his wallet got his address. The thugs go to his address raped the maid, and kidnaped his daughter. The daughter get raped again, and wind up killing herself by jumping out the window onto a fence. Bronson goes after these thugs one by one. It 's a great movie from beginning to end. MGM release a lot a good titles some cut some unrated. Like the movie Deranged was cut, but From Beyond, The Burning wasn't. Even with some scenes trimmed you still get a excellent movie. It either accept it for what it is, and pay cheap, or spend more money on a all region player. I rather accept the MGM!Movie Review: vile, vicious, and very entertaining
Summary: 5 Stars
Death Wish 2 is a different movie from the first Death Wish and trades in social commentary for violent entertainment value, and after watching it you may feel like you actually spent time in a seedy alley in the wrong end of town. Paul Kersey was elevated to the level of folk hero as the Death Wish movies continued, but bang was always delivered for my buck as was laughter with the more ridiculous moments. The worst crime a film can commit is being dull and Death Wish 2 may not be art, but it's not dull. Scummy, but very entertaining.