★ 6 / 10
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown" really ought to
kevin2019
"Death Wish 4: The Crackdown" really ought to have a more routine and listless quality about it by this late date and while there is a faint sense of that…
"Death Wish 4: The Crackdown" really ought to have a more routine and listless quality about it by this late date and while there is a faint sense of that detectable here it isn't as prevalent as it could have been. The film pushes incredibly hard to create some sort of new and innovative angle on its central theme - a theme which has now gone from being highly controversial and politically and socially divisive to becoming acceptable and commonplace action movie fodder in just a span of fifteen years - to trigger the mayhem and by and large this results in a much better film than you could have ever expected. There is still an abundance of gunplay on display, but fortunately the unpalatable and lurid violence towards women (which still exists here to a certain extent) receives far less attention from screenwriter Gail Morgan Hickman than some of her male counterparts in previous times and best of all there are no deliberately cruel and horrifically over extended rape scenes to fast forward through this time around.
★ 5 / 10
**Bronson should have shown restraint.** **CONTAINS SPOILERS** To
Social Justice Sally
**Bronson should have shown restraint.** **CONTAINS SPOILERS** To be fair, the bad guy did warn Bronson that he would kill the girl - but Bronson did not…
**Bronson should have shown restraint.**
**CONTAINS SPOILERS**
To be fair, the bad guy did warn Bronson that he would kill the girl - but Bronson did not listen. He kept on coming at the other guy until the guy delivered his promise and killed the girl. Bronson pushed the guy into it. He _did_ warn Bronson. Here is the unacceptable part - _Bronson then mercilessly blows him to pieces._
The man was trying to reason with Bronson and gave him ample warning but Bronson just opted for a violent conclusion. Bronson should have not killed the man - especially as the guy was trying to make concessions for Brosnan.
Bronson brought it on himself.
★ 6 / 10
"I was making a sandwich."
Hey_Sweden
Charles Bronson, back again as vigilante / architect Paul Kersey, goes back to the L.A. setting in this fourth "Death Wish" movie, the first not directed by…
Charles Bronson, back again as vigilante / architect Paul Kersey, goes back to the L.A. setting in this fourth "Death Wish" movie, the first not directed by Michael Winner (that honour goes to J. Lee Thompson, another frequent collaborator). Kersey is dating reporter Karen Sheldon (Kay Lenz), whose teen daughter Erica (Dana Barron, a.k.a. the original Audrey Griswold) overdoses on cocaine. He then takes up a stranger (John P. Ryan) on his proposal: get the city's competing drug empires to go to war with each other. This Kersey does in his inimitable style, with the body count hitting very respectable numbers.The story (by Gail Morgan Hickman) is patently nonsensical, with holes in the plot to match the many bullet holes in the onslaught of expendable henchmen. That said, it IS entertaining, straightforward stuff: action-packed, gleefully violent nonsense with an anti-drug message to justify itself. At least by having Bronson take on entire gangs (in part 3) and these criminal organizations here provides enough of a spin on the standard "Death Wish" formula. You have to wonder why Kersey would ever get close to anybody, though, since from that day on they seem to grow targets on their backs.At the end of the day, there are enough amusing moments to make the thing worth watching, such as Bronson's response to a thug inquiring why Bronson is in his kitchen. And there is absolutely no shortage of utterly scummy bad guys whose demises we can cherish. But none of it can quite match the opening credit sequence in a parking garage: it provides a punchline that's more interesting than anything that follows.An ageing Bronson is still a potent hero here, and he receives capable support from much of the cast. Lenz is sorely under-utilized, but Ryan, Soon-Tek Oh (as a police detective), and Perry Lopez (as one of the drug kingpins) are all good. You can also play "spot the familiar face", because there's a bunch of them: George Dickerson, Danny Trejo, Mike Moroff, Tom Everett, Irwin Keyes, Tim Russ, Mark Pellegrino, and Mitch Pileggi. Trejo exits the picture in hilarious fashion.Fairly good fun overall, the movie is best recommended to undiscriminating action fans.Six out of 10.
22%
TOMATOMETER
· 9 reviews
39%
AUDIENCE
· 5K ratings
5.5/10
12.7K
•••
We need Death Wish 5 !!