Death Wish: The Redo

• Directed by Eli Roth
• March 2, 2018
• Based on the 1974 film Death Wish and the 1972 novel Death Wish by Brian Garfield

A Chicago doctor sets out to get revenge on the men that attacked his family.

Remakes are sadly common in Hollywood. Most of the time they are barely related projects with a familiar name slapped on it. Rarely are they ever attempts to ‘fix’ an issue with the original. So in that spirit we got the 2018 edition of Death Wish.

The first thing this Death Wish does to differentiate itself in the original film is that it sets the action in Chicago rather than New York City. Not sure exactly why the change, but it could have something to do with the author of the book upon which this is based being unhappy with the original film. Or it could be adhering more closely to the book than the original film did. I don’t know. And there are other things making this version of the story less a remake but more just a redo.

I have a little trouble believing Bruce Willis is the father of a young daughter. At least given the age of Elisabeth Shue who plays his wife. I certainly would’ve bought it a little more if his daughter was an adult like in the original, but this is seeking to differentiate itself as quickly as possible from the Bronson film. That is a tough sell though because mentioning Death Wish immediately brings to mind Charles Bronson. He made five of those things!

They do a much better job here of making the family members into characters. We actually know a few things about the wife and daughter prior to the incident. In Death Wish ‘74 they just simply existed. Unfortunately they’re a little too nice and a little too perfect to be real in my opinion. I know this is a work of fiction, but it comes off as really fake rather than an element of this fiction.

As was present in the last one, present here is the general uselessness of the system. Paul (Bruce Willis) follows the rules and nothing happens. He breaks the rules and things get worse. I got the impression Roth was saying do nothing because there is nothing you can do. And then there is the first scene in the gun store. It felt a little bit like commentary on gun access. They certainly made it sound pretty easy to get a gun.

In the original, Paul Kersey was much more of a hero than he is here. How he is perceived by the public waffles between hero and villain with the public viewing him as a dangerous vigilante by the end who has mercifully decided to hang things up. What bothers me about all this is the film goes to great lengths to show that the police are all too often ineffective in preventing crime and goes so far as to say that they exist to show up after the fact. Is this really what you want to say?

But what this isn’t is a commentary on the criminal justice system. Rather it’s a revenge story with shades of property recovery. Paul is all about getting back his stuff and killing the criminals who attacked his family. Roth and pals really do focus on Paul getting his stuff back to the point I felt Paul was angrier over the lost curios than over the murdered family.

I can’t say I loved this movie, but I didn’t hate it. The problem is largely in its name. Death Wish is perhaps Charles Bronson’s best-known film and only film series. It’s compared to that end because of the name. Willis is not nearly as believably tough as Bronson nor is he an actor that can be sensitive or meek. He is more an asshole. It works elsewhere but not here. If he had the range his turn from inoffensive to vigilante would have made this stand apart and perhaps upped it a notch from Death Wish ’74.

As it is Willis’s middling skills and the tepid story helmed by Eli Roth make this an okay streaming choice but not a theatrical experience or an improvement over the original. Taking over something iconic requires more than was given here. Death Wish 2018 is such a different animal. It takes a different tone and a different overall feel than the original version. It should’ve had a name that separated it from the previous film rather than try to ride the coattails of that.

Still Bruce Willis’s Death Wish redo is not bad. Not great, but not bad. It’s an adequate movie hampered by having the same name as something iconic. Only watch if chosen by another but do not seek out.