| Overall Grade: |
A |
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| Story: |
A |
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| Acting: |
B+ |
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| Direction: |
B+ |
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| Visuals: |
A |
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Brilliantly entertaining movie for its time
by James (movies profile)
Mar 30, 2008
1
of
1 people found this review helpful
I loved this movie growing up and upon a revisit a couple of days ago appreciate it even more. Charles Bronson is the perfect quiet, older man with a vendetta. When your family is affected by violence it does fill a person with rage. So Kersey's reaction is extreme, yet the audience can still sympathize. But I also love the way the movie explored the larger issues of what causes urban violence. Greedy urban developers that overcrowd cities and turn them into slums. And the fact that the main character was a real-estate architect, created the perfect vehicle for this cautionary tale. His client out in Arizona told him "I don't want to build something that's going to be a slum in 20 years". If only every one had that moral code. For this reaon, the novel "Death Wish" by Brian Garfield was far more than just a shoot'em up tale. And this was a perfect adaptation. The music composed by Herbie Hancock(way before his Future Shock fame) is menacingly perfect. Also, I was surprised to see a younger Olympia Dukakis in the film. Her name is not in the ending credits, but in the beginning credits. I take my hat off if you can spot later in the movie(plays a female cop). Also Christopher Guest is at the very end of the film (10 years before his Spinal Tap and Saturday Night Live fame). The movie "The Brave One" was also surprisingly good. The trailers didn't do it any justice. |
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