Cheap Death Wish 2 (Video) (Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland) (Michael Winner) Price

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Customer Reviews of Death Wish 2

A sequel far from equal to the first.
For some reason it took 8 to 9 years for there to be a sequel made to the movie that most people associate with Charles Bronson. It wasn't worth the wait. Even revisiting the movie on DVD (sadly full frame, at least they could have restored it to its proper aspect ratio) did not improve my original thoughts on this follow up. Death Wish 2 is to Death Wish what Jaws 2 was to Jaws, a sequel that attempts to pass itself off as a continuation of the first film but largely recycles its plot and most memorable moments. Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is now living in Los Angeles and he has had his still mentally withdrawn (and actually younger looking) daughter Carol moved to a nearby facility. Evidently her husband left her, as that character is not mentioned this time out, even in passing. When Kersey and his new girlfriend (played by Bronson's real life wife Jill Ireland) take Carol out for some quality family time, Paul is attacked by muggers who steal his wallet. Of course Kersey gives chase and manages to pound one mugger against a wall, but they still have his wallet - which contains his address and, of course, the muggers are gunning for revenge. This is obviously meant to recreate (or homage) the set-up for the attack by a trio of thugs who get the Kersey home address at the supermarket in the first Death Wish. The muggers attack the Kersey household, sexually assaulting both the housekeeper as well as Kersey's daughter (again), both of whom die. The major difference from the first movie is that Kersey is there and thus knows just who to hunt down after a little alone time. In the first Death Wish it was a business trip to Tuscon, in Death Wish 2 it's a weekend at a friend's rustic cabin. The rest of the movie is basically Bronson wandering around the seedier areas of Hollywood until he finds his prey - that and avoiding his girlfriend while trying to keep her clueless about what he is doing at night. Death Wish 2 delivers on the violence and sleazy exploitation, but it misses the mark in even attempting to create a compelling story. Despite there being ample oppurtunity to do so. Some Bronson fans will no doubt want this, put it remains a poor follow up to a truly great movie.

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perfect revenge movie
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.

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A real Winner
Not sure where to begin with Death Wish 2. Significantly, it was directed by Michael Winner, who directed the first and would go on to direct the amazing third entry in this series about 'bleeding heart liberal' architect Paul Kersey and his vigilante side job.

Paul Kersey now lives in sunny Los Angeles, which like New York is depicted as a pit of human filth and depravity. The incredible cynicism of the filmmakers begins right away as Kersey's housemaid and daughter--who, remember, was violently raped in the original--are brutaly raped, with the maid murdered. Then Kersey's daughter is taken away, raped again, and decides to jump out a window rather than endure the rest of the film. Kersey then puts down his slide ruler and blueprints and takes up his old hobby of blowing away criminal scum.

The main difference between Part 2 and the original, besides an even deeper cynicism, a lower budget, and overall abysmal effort by all involved, is that Bronson actually hunts down the individuals responsible for these acts of malfeasance. His behavior now flat-out pathological, he rents a cheap office in a bad part of LA, using it as a home base for his vigilante operations. Donning ski cap and dark clothes and packing heat, he roams the streets of LA, looking for revenge.

Even the tagline is noteworthy:

Bronson's on the loose again! Seems to suggest that, in effect, it didn't matter who Bronson was playing, because 'he' was on the loose again!

Overall, it's bad. Very, very bad. Part 3 is bad, but it has other things going for it, namely that it cannot be taken seriously for a moment and it knows it, the tongue so firmly in cheek that it becomes an incredible guilty pleasure and one of the best bad movies of the 80s, perhaps ever. But Part 2, for the most part, is an exploitation movie. The film looks cheap, grimy, and rushed. It can't even succeed as a bad movie, which is pretty depressing. It feels seedy, right down to the very grainy film stock and washed out look to the picture. And to top it off, Jimmy Page contributes one of the most appalling scores I've heard in a movie of any genre. Not even his score for Part 3 was this embarassing. And yes, it is THE Jimmy Page.

As for Bronson, he's particularly wooden in this one. Which may be appropriate as at this point, Kersey is less than sane.

But alas! The Death Wish flicks finally reappeared on DVD, right around the time of Bronson's death in 2003. Obviously recommended if you like, well, Death Wish movies, the DVDs are capable, if pretty bare bones. I would love to hear Michael Winner do a commentary track to discuss his state of mind when he directed this one.