Death Wish II (1982)

I love the Death wish franchise i really do & have watched them all so many times it's crazy & Paul Kersey is my favourite movie character ever or atleast stands next to Snake Plisskin!!! So you know i love these crazy Vigilante Thrillers, now part 2 is EASILY the most disturbing & sickest of the franchise, we have the vile over long rape scene that is horrible but i also can see that this scene can show us why this gang of scum so needs to be exterminated by Kersey!!! I won't go on about the plot or story but let's just say Bronson is out for revenge & hunts this gang of sick rapists down in the very gritty & grimy streets of los Angeles that oozes with darkness & menace, Bronson is very good as always as the silent avenger. This film has a very gloomy look & down town los Angeles at night looks crazy & sleazy as hell in Death Wish 2 & the Atmosphere is dangerous & dark but the cinematography looks fantastic with the dull dim glow of blue-sh neon light on the dark dirty streets it's very affective intentional or not? But either way it gives an eerie other worldly look to the night time world of Death Wish 2 & even feels very noir at times with it's look!!!

It's actually a nice comfort seeing rugged old Bronson out stalking the dark & dangerous streets at night it's because he's a good man,a vigilante hero & it's a comfort seeing some one taking revenge on the evil scum out there that in real life that doesn't happen oh no in real life the scum usually get away with the evil things they do & there is no vigilante hero out the getting vengeance on them so it's a nice fantasy comfort to watch Bronson act it out.

& that's very important the look has to show us the night time world is dangerous & scary & Death Wish 2 oozes that Atmospheric look & atmosphere it's spot on. The music is excellent & fits perfectly with the craziness & rawness of the down town night life. The punk thugs are vile & evil & that's all you need to know. Legendary Charles Bronson is excellent as Paul Kersey once again & this time targets & hunts just the one sick gang of thugs that Murdered his daughter & house maid. Kersey is much more of a hunter this time & he prowls the dark sleazy night time streets searching for those creeps to exterminate them & it's a great iconic controlled performance like a killing machine programmed for one person one mission & i love that this once normal guy is now like The Punisher or The Terminator.

Death Wish 2 is gritty & extremely dark,raw & brutal, a real GRINDHOUSE revenge Thriller & great sequel & a gritty classic in it's own right!!! Great fun watching Bronson hunt & kill the scum of society, i just wish we had a Real Paul Kersey out there killing off the scum as it's gotten so bad now 2019 crime is outta control again!!! I love the Paul Kersey character he's my favourite of all movie characters then followed by Snake Plisskin & i love the whole Death Wish franchise so much & will always love these movies. Death Wish 1974 is the masterpiece though & DW 3 is the most fun, but each entry is great in their own way!!! Parts 4 & 5 are alot of Action-packed fun with some excellent scenes & part 5 has the best villain of the franchise!!!

Fmovies: I had to see this movie after I surfed on the IMDb and read some comments on this movie: It seemed like some meeting of psychoanalysts or something.

Well, where to begin... I must admit that this is an interesting movie "psychologically", but I don't think any five penny analysts could do anything to these sick people. Everybody is sick in this movie. It has the overall feeling of some really cheap low-life bar: The feeling of disappointment and failure in life. I would say it's the overall feeling of death; This movie feels like you would have just heard, that you have an incurable cancer. It's an interesting fact that Charles Bronson is, or at least has been, some kind of popular action hero: He looks like a disappointed- and tired-to-everything alcoholic. An interesting world-view and feeling. There is NO humor, joy or hope in this film; Not even before the bad guys come and "ruin it all". The bad guys names tell all: Nirvana, Stomper, Cutter, Punkcut, Jiver. They are the bad guys, and nothing else. They even smoke the "herb" and become psychotic and aggressive killer-madmen after that! I didn't know that that stuff makes that, but it's always good to learn. The bad guys first dance, chill out and have fun, and all of the sudden start to rape and kill people. (After that they forget about it.) It seems that the main character (Bronson) is a real psychopath, at least he fits perfectly of the description of one. I have to correct what I said before: Not everybody is totally sick in this movie; Just the ones that are involved in THE WAR. There is some (very few) good-looking pictures in this film; for example when the antihero walks in the streets at night. It's funny how he judges people that are unknown to him: For example when he sees somebody drinking alcohol, he looks at him with an expression of total repulsion on his face. Some police story also goes in the background, but it doesn't have much to do with the movie.

But after all, this film manages to represent some peoples (the filmmakers) very strong feelings, and evidently also the feelings of many viewers, and isn't that one of the main purposes of any piece of "art" or self-expression? Can you judge people for how they feel? If you want to see a really good movie of this genre (revenge-moral-story), I strongly recommend Tony Scott's "Man on Fire" (2004)(with Denzel Washington, Christopher Walken, Mickey Rourke, Dakota Fanning). Peace.

Of all the Death Wish sequels, this was the best. I think once they got to up part 3 with all the machine guns and rocket launchers, then it started to get a little stupid. The story almost has an identical plot outline as the first one and the action is just as good, if not, then even better. The shootout at San Pedro park was awesome!!! The only difference is that they make Paul Kersey have more emotional interaction with the creeps he kills which makes it seem to be more "Hollywood". In the first Death Wish, Kersey would just kill them stone cold without having a conversation. That's why the original was so good as so realistic.

Death Wish II fmovies. It's hard to believe that anyone who didn't like the first one wouldn't like this one. Bronson is back, this time avenging the death of his daughter and he's angrier than he's ever been. This one takes more of a action hero approach than the first one, but that's okay, you see, Bronson is a bad ass and that's all that matters. Movies like this aren't made to win best picture or best screenplay, they're made to be entertaining and filled with action, and that's what this is. Bronson has a great line he give to a punk just before he blows him away; he asks the punk if he believes in Jesus as the punk clutches a cross around his neck. The punk says "yes sir" so Bronson pauses and then tells him "you're going to meet him." Then he shoots him twice, it's great. Classic. I found no insight in this film, all I found was an awesome character who you can't get enough of that gets away with killing pieces of trash that rape, mug, and murder civilians. This formula is timeless, and the whole Death Wish series should be appreciated for proving so, because I'd watch one of these films before I watch any action film that may be produced today.

The supposed correlation between violence/sexuality in art and violence in reality has been shoved to the forefront of our culture, especially in the past decade, when incidents such as the Columbine massacre confirmed politicians' fears of an unregulated entertainment industry in need of a spanking. In non-fanatical, everyday reality, however, I have come to disagree with the equation above. Some would argue that ugly, violent, nihilistic, and generally misanthropic films like "Death Wish" and its sequels do nothing but contribute to intensifying the more unsavory impulses that lay dormant in the viewer's id.

Yet therein lies the purpose of such rough-edged, unpleasant entertainment. It sparks the id, pummels it into submission, so that when the experience is over, a sigh of relief is uttered.

The original "Death Wish" was a well-done exploitation flick with the professional gloss of an A picture; despite its relatively shallow insight into the murky moral terrain of vigilante justice, it contained an intensely subdued performance by Charles Bronson, and confident direction by Michael Winner.

By comparison, "Death Wish 2" is a typical sequel, taking what the original had and dumbing it down to milk some cash for the franchise. In addition to Bronson (in the role of architect Paul Kersey), a few other characters return to provide at least a superficial connection to the original (Robin Sherwood as his daughter; Vincent Gardenia as the cop that uncovered his identity). The plot is as before: Paul Kersey has begun a new life (courting the cheerfully cardboard Jill Ireland) which is shattered when a gang of punks (including a young Laurence Fishburne) rape and murder his housekeeper and daughter. Unlike the original, no time is spent watching Kersey contemplate his actions; he simply goes to work, and in the process is rendered a stoic killing machine. The characterization/motivation for the punks is given even less thought--they exist for the sole purpose of showing how scummy the scummiest scum of society can be. The film moves from one random encounter to the next, wherein Kersey stumbles across gang members and kills them.

Of course this doesn't sound like highbrow film-making, but "Death Wish 2" never teases the audience with any notions of greatness. In spite of the meager attention given to Kersey's character, we root for him anyway; and in spite of the inexplicably-written punks, we hope for their demise. Michael Winner once again gives the film a gritty yet polished look, though he is clearly directing a flat-out B picture; the pacing is tight (the film runs just under 90 minutes), and the action is competently choreographed (though the romantic subplot provides a respite from the relentless violence, it is shallow and cloying). Jimmy Page's offbeat musical score only adds to the unusual charge this film packs.

In the best-case scenario, "Death Wish 2" is no masterpiece, but the perfect Novocaine to apply after a particularly rotten day. It will numb you into a state of apathy and wash your troubles away (that's a compliment).

"Yes," says the crying thug, knowing his last breathing second on this planet has come. Bronson replies: "Now you'll get to meet him," and blows a hole in his chest! This scene found me laughing in disbelief, shocked and horrified over what the Paul Kersey-character has become, and at the same time impressed that somebody actually dared to make this stuff more than 20 years ago, and even starring one of the biggest movie-stars in the world!

This once bleedin' heart liberal family man has for sure turned into a messenger of death, with about as much mercy for the criminals as a hungry stray cat has for a limp mouse! It's shocking to watch, but at the same time fascinating because the whole movie looks great, the atmosphere gets under your skin, and you still find yourself rooting for Bronson's character.

This is still the best of the "Death Wish"-sequels, and it still packs a wallop and manages to stir controversy even today. It's a movie you will either like or hate, there is no middle road here, and it makes for a great conversation piece.

One final note: this movie sure is a reminder and evidence that when it came to movie tough-guys Charles Bronson WAS the baddest of them all. After the sad news of Bronson's passing a lot of people say he was second behind Clint Eastwood as far as action icons go. I'm a huge Eastwood-fan but Bronson still beats him any day. It really hit me as I was watching this movie. Bronson is driving through down-town Los Angeles, after brutally executing the thug in the above mentioned scene, he passes a movie-theater and sees a guy pretending to be a cowboy outside the theater, and what is the double-billing at the theater? Those silly comedies with Clint Eastwood and that big monkey Clyde!

That kinda' sums it up doesn't it?

Charles Bronson was THE MAN.