Plot: Dr. Paul Kersey is a trauma-ward surgeon who has seen the worst of the worst in the Windy City’s never-ending trend of chaos and crime. A suburban family man, Kersey’s only other concern in his life besides the wounded patients who end up on his operating table is his loving wife Lucy and college-bound daughter Jordan. However, Kersey’s seemingly perfect world is shattered when his family becomes victims to a home invasion which results in his wife being killed and his daughter in a coma.
Though local detectives Jackson and Raines work feverishly to find the perpetrators responsible, the incident turns into a cold case when they have no leads to follow. Distraught over the system’s inability to find those responsible for hurting his loved ones, Kersey is forced to take matters into his own hands when he becomes a vigilante in an attempt to right a definite wrong that has been made against him and every other citizen in the Windy City who has been a victim of crime.
But as the body count begins to rise from Kersey’s vigilantism, he gains praise and notoriety as the mysterious avenger known as the ‘Grim Reaper’ and must now keep his double-life a secret from the authorities while hunting those who he feels have escaped the claws of justice.
A Classic Reborn
I gotta say, if Charles Bronson were alive right now I’m pretty sure he would be very proud of Bruce Willis. I mean, this is hands down the first remake that I’ve seen in years that actually stays true to the formula of the original 1974 crime/thriller of the same name. Truth be told, remakes and reboots are a bad idea because nine times out of ten we don’t always have a guarantee that it’ll be better than the original even though production is attempting to explore new territories by breathing life back into old ideas.
Here, director Eli Roth takes the classic tale of vigilantism and gives it a serious upgrade while still focusing on the themes of law and order, gun control policy and how much ‘red tape’ is too much when it comes to protecting what we cherish the most in our lives. Vigilantism has always been one of my favorite subjects in fiction because we get to see mild-mannered people who grow weary and tired of seeing crime and chaos take over the streets and watching ordinary citizens either feel like prisoners in their own homes or end up becoming casualties of ‘street war’ at the hands of gangs, criminals and other anarchists who roam around looking for their next victim. Eventually, the mild-mannered individual (who is either a retired bad-ass or takes a lesson in being a bad-ass) decides that enough is enough and that it’s time to take matters into their own hands in order for peace to be restored to the neighborhood.
That’s pretty much the formula for a lot of vigilante films, t.v. shows and stories like ‘The Equalizer’, ‘Jack Reacher’, ‘V for Vendetta’, ‘the Batman Franchise’, ‘the Punisher Franchise’, ‘Daredevil’ and so forth. The interesting part is seeing how the vigilante balances his life as a law-abiding citizen by day while attending his duties as a crime-hunting street sweeper at night and attempting to keep it hidden from either loved ones who are unaware of their ‘secret activities’ after work or the authorities who don’t take kindly to someone trying to make their own justice. And even more interesting is you have an audience who will either support the vigilante or question his tactics as he goes on a warpath with a majority of people who support him/or her as they feel that the vigilante is doing a public service that the courts aren’t able to do.
And that’s just the appetizer for this hardcore remake…
Stepping up a ‘Classic’.
Though this film is chop full of action scenes, excellent cinematography, masterpiece of editing and a music score with lots of ominous feeling in every chord, Death Wish (2018) really spiced things up with how they upgraded the storyline. First, the character of Paul Kersey goes from being an architect in the original to a trauma surgeon in the remake. Personally, I think this was an excellent touch for the storyline because it kind of adds an interesting theme to the story. Kersey is a man who has the power to give life as a surgeon but as a vigilante, he has the ability to take it away from those who he feels are a threat to society. Plus, his being skilled in the field of medicine and surgical procedures makes it easier for him to heal his wounds should he get injured during his vigilante crusades so I feel that making Kersey’s character a doctor really adds a little more color to the story.
Showing the use of social media in this movie was the hugest turning point in the film in my eyes. Social media exists in everything from television, to the Internet to cell-phones and so forth, it has become a part of mankind’s key to information and events. In the film, director Roth shows Willis’ character Kersey using instructional videos on youtube to aid in his mission of justice and he learns everything from how to disassemble and clean his Glock, how to shoot properly and how to destroy evidence in order to keep the police off his tail. I guess it’s true what they say: you really can find everything you need on the Internet because it’s just a click a way. I find it kind of interesting though that those scenes of Kersey learning to cover up his crimes didn’t come under scrutiny from the critics because from time to time when a movie shows a little too much ‘reality’ in doing bad things, scenes like that usually get omitted but not this time for this film.
Paul goes to Vigilante school…youtube style!
The Final Countdown
To some people, seeing Bruce Willis with a pistol in his palm is nothing new, but to see him play the part of one of many known vigilante characters in motion picture history is what makes this remake a worthy recommendation in my opinion. With remakes, it’s interesting to see what the script writers, the production crew and the actors themselves do differently with recreating a classic film. Most times, a remake fails to live up to the hype of the original but other times it will but take the story into a whole different direction. In Death Wish (2018), the production crew was able to stay tried and true to the original formula of the vigilante trope while introducing the new-age era of social media to show how one act caught on video can change our whole perspective on life as we know it.
Bruce Willis really makes you root for him in this remake and I would definitely recommend this film to action junkies or Bruce Willis fans. However, in order to get a good feel for the remake, watch the original franchise with the great Charles Bronson and then give this hardcore remake a shot (no pun intended). It definitely gets a ten in my book and I feel that if people give this film a chance, they’ll definitely give it a ten also. Go purchase it online or rent it from your local RedBox today!
The Cable Critic 