A mild-mannered doctor, Paul Kersey, takes the law into his hands after his wife and daughter are attacked. His wife, Lucy Rose, is killed while daughter Jordan is in a coma. Shouldn’t Liam Neeson be doing the honours and growling, “I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you?”
It is however, Bruce Willis, who plays Kersey and till the climax goes about getting vengeance meekly (yes it is an oxymoron). In the final act he goes into full on ‘Die Hard mode’ and all that was missing was Yippee ki Yay.
- Director: Eli Roth
- Cast: Bruce Willis, Elisabeth Shue, Vincent D’Onofrio
- Story line: A doctor turns vigilante when his family is attacked
Eli Roth, who helmed the gory Hostel , is not shy of blood, guts and inventive ways of death. The film, while being gripping through its running time, has a shallow approach to gun control, crime and vigilantism.
There is a sly dig at social media and talking heads with every issue thrown open for an opinion poll. The sixth instalment in the Death Wish series which started with Charles Bronson as Kersey (he was an architect) in 1974, doesn’t bring anything new or nuanced. Willis brings his superstar sheen to Kersey and it is nice to see Elisabeth Shue (Lucy Rose) after ages. Vincent D’Onofrio plays Kersey’s brother, Frank.
The jokey tone is in bad taste especially coming so soon after the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting. And the bad guys are cartoons—oh for teeth gnashing Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman)! AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’ in the end credits was fun though.
