Originally introduced to movie goers in Michael Winner’s Death Wish (1974), vigilante Paul Kersey has went on to become one of leading man Charles Bronson’s most identifiable roles. When initially introduced, Kersey was a man who abhorred violence, with an aversion to firearms. It was only when faced with a family tragedy that Kersey decided to take matters into his own hands.
As the series progressed, Kersey changed from a reluctant vigilante into a more generic killing machine. Still, these sequels gave audiences exactly what they were looking for, Bronson taking out lowlife scum.
By the time Death Wish 3 (1985) came round, Kersey had almost become an Inner-city John Rambo, taking on street gangs with a machine gun and even a bazooka at one point. Gone was the gritty realism of the first movie, and in its place was the more excessive over the top action favoured throughout the 80’s.
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987) followed on two years later and marked the first entry in the Death Wish series not to be directed by Michael Winner. Bronson was disappointed with both the third movie and Winner, who included additional scenes of violence unbeknownst to the actor. Due to their differences, Winner turned down the chance to direct the sequel and went on to make another Cannon production, Appointment with Death (1988).
In need of a director, Bronson and his producer/agent Pancho Kohner decided to bring J. Lee Thompson on board, as he and Bronson had built up a good working relationship, collaborating on a number of features previously.
Production company Cannon Films were going through a great deal of financial problems at the time, which resulted in the fourth part of the series being considerably lower budget than those that came before.
However, considering the lower budget, Death Wish 4 actually manages to look a more expensive and professional film than its predecessor, with Thompson stretching the finances as far as possible. Perhaps not as enjoyably ridiculous as the 3rd entry, 4 is still clearly the better made film.
Running at a tight 99 minutes, Thompson fills the film with decent performances and expected violent confrontations, with the explosive arcade shootout during the finale being a definite highlight. The action may not be as over the top as its predecessor, but it still features Kersey brandishing and M-16 and a rocket launcher at separate parts of the movie.
Once again Paul Kersey manages to be the unluckiest man around. This time he has settled down with Karen (Kay Lenz) and her teenage daughter. Of course, this being a Death Wish film, it isn’t long before tragedy strikes, this time being the death of Karen’s daughter due to a drug overdose.
Suitably enraged, Kersey wants to find out who supplied her with the drugs that took her life. This brings him into contact with publisher Nathan White, who likewise lost his daughter to drugs.
The publisher, played by the great John P Ryan, supplies Kersey with the information and the means to get rid of the drug dealers he is looking for. It’s only after working his way through the various dealers that Kersey realises that he has been used as a pawn by White to get rid of the competition.
You would never mistake this as Bronson’s finest acting achievement, although he is certainly more engaged here than in part 3. This may be partly down to the change in director. The Kersey role doesn’t exactly give Bronson much chance to stretch himself, with the character being strictly focused on getting vengeance. He is still professional enough to put in a decent performance, with him doing as much of the action as possible, even though it is apparent that a double was used for parts of the film.
The beautiful Kay Lenz does well enough as Bronson’s much younger girlfriend, but doesn’t exactly get a great deal to do, with there being long stretches of the film where it seems as if she has been forgotten about. She only really shows up again to be put in Jeopardy.
The real acting honours go to John P Ryan, who unsurprisingly turns out to be the main villain. This isn’t really a spoiler, as anyone with prior knowledge of the actor will have realised as soon as he was introduced that he would probably be the villain. When first introduced he plays with the audiences sympathies, only to completely turn it around and become the franchises most impressive villain.
Similarly to Bronson, Ryan had worked with Cannon Films on a number of occasions, most memorably in Runaway Train (1985) and Avenging Force (1986).
A number of scripts were written for Death Wish 4 before the filmmakers decided on what was used in the completed film. Alternative versions had Kersey reunited with Jill Ireland’s character from the second film as well as another having Kersey taking on a group of terrorists.
The script finally settled on was by Gail Morgan Hickman, who had written Murphy’s Law the year previous. It is down to Hickman that the main storyline varies from other Death Wish films, with the writer being clearly influenced by Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo (1961). Like that classic, Death Wish 4 has the main protagonist setting two rival gangs against each other.
Hickman has since commented that he knew exactly what Cannon Films were looking for and this is why his script was filled with cartoonish action scenes. However Hickman still found himself constantly rewriting dialogue and action scenes upon the request of Bronson.
Unlike other entries in the series, Death Wish 4 opened to some positive reviews; with most realising that it was a solid B movie. Death Wish 4 would go on to become the highest grossing entry of the series when released on home video.
In addition, Death Wish 4 has the distinction of being the only film in the franchise to get the remake treatment, albeit unofficially. Bollywood movie Mohra (1994) takes the basis of the main plot but moves in a different direction than the original.
Death Wish 4 may lose points for unoriginality, but it is still an entertaining entry to the series. There’s enough violence and carnage here to keep most action fans happy and should satisfy any Charles Bronson fans out there.
Rating: 3.7/5
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