Death Wish II

• Directed by Michael Winner
• February 11, 1982 (UK) / February 19, 1982 (US)
• Based on characters created by Brian Garfield

After his daughter is murdered Paul Kersey once again becomes a vigilante to pursue his family’s attackers.

Death Wish II is a prime example of the exceedingly violent films that could come out in the 80s. Heavy on the blood along with the unnecessary boobs. Those show up a few times. There were plenty of those with the one-man army that can kill all the bad guys and get away with it. And like many of those films it appealed to the lowest common denominator.

Like a slasher movie, a revenge film is about the kills and Death Wish II has some great kills. They are bloody and violent and at moments creative. But mostly violent. And much like the last film this is largely wish fulfillment for the audience. Rather than blowing away random criminals here Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) ACTUALLY seeks out those that attacked his family while he is now living in Los Angeles.

None in the Death Wish series are great movies. They’re good movies. They have a high rewatchability. But this is probably a better film than its predecessor simply because the story focus on vengeance rather than blind rage. It allows for focus.

Maybe not the greatest actor but Bronson did have talent. I guess you can call him serviceable at his worst and good at his best. You don’t get to be a part of several classics of any type without talent. Here he gives a little bit more reality to Paul Kersey. Not that he was going to win an award for anything in this movie, but I could buy that Paul Kersey was a real person here much easier than I could in the original. Or maybe it’s because the relationships felt more natural. That certainly helps to make this go over much smoother for me.

Jill Ireland costars as is Charles Bronson’s love interest Geri Nichols who works at the radio station that has hired Paul to design their new building. Geri represents if anything a choice between having a life or being consumed by a need for revenge. Considering three films follow this guess which one Paul ultimately decides upon.

Vincent Gardenia as Lieutenant Frank Ochoa is shoehorned into the story. As a character he contributes little. Ochoa does little more than let Geri in on Paul’s secret and help Paul out of a sticky situation that Paul was doing mostly fine with. While I do like characters to return, I like them to return with something to do and Ochoa does very little.

Last time we had Jeff Goldblum play one of the criminals that ticked off Paul Kersey. This time we have a young Laurence Fishburne making the mistake of crossing Paul Kersey in one of the most laughably bad outfits of any 80s generic criminal. It looks like so many clichés just exploded upon him. Not that as a character he is much better.

For clearly obvious reasons Isaac Hayes was the choice of the producers to compose the score but director Michael Winner chose former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. Why? Because he was Winner’s neighbor. It is certainly unique though I’m not sure what he was going for despite it making Death Wish II stand out from many films. It’s like he wrote a rock album and then Winner forced those songs into this movie.

Maybe not the greatest film in history but if you’re a fan of violent action movies or Charles Bronson in his more masculine performances, Death Wish II is one that will satisfy. It is not art but it is entertaining.