Death Wish (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Director: Eli Roth (The Green Inferno, Aftershock)
	Actors: Bruce Willis (Die Hard 1-5, The 6th Sense), Vincent D'Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket, Men in Black, Jurassic World, Daredevil TV-series), Elisabeth Shue (Back to the Future, Hollow Man), Dean Norris (Starship Troopers, Breaking Bad TV series)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 16.05.2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: Paul Kersey (Willis), renowned trauma surgeon, sees his life changing when his home is attacked in his absence and his wife and daughter are brought to his hospital. Facing the inefficiency of the Justice system, he will start to take it in his own hands.
Review: This movie was released totally unbeknown to me, although I like the genre and know the director, main actors and movie of which it is a remake. I found it on Netflix and was soon curious about it. But let me step back a little. This is the remake of the 1974 Death Wish with Charles Bronson, itself adapted from a novel with the same title by Brian Garfield. I thought I knew the original movie, but in fact it has four sequels and I think the only one I saw when I was (too) young is Death Wish 3. A kind of sequel to the original novel was released and adapted in 2007 into Death Sentence with Kevin Bacon. So I had never seen the original when I watched the remake, but I did soon after and continued with the rest of the series spanning 20 years of releases. I am writing this review after seeing the original so that I can compare them. I know the director Eli Roth from his connection with Quentin Tarantino (he acts in Inglorious Basterds for example), but usually find his movies looking too gore and cheap (see The Green Inferno or Aftershock). With Death Wish he managed to make something more mainstream and worthy of Bruce Willis. He did insert some torture scenes that made me flinch but it was reasonable. Bruce Willis and Dean Norris are fine to watch, but Vincent D'Onofrio is something else as I have written before, and I saw sparkles when watching the scenes he has with Willis who I may not find so charismatic anymore but with an experience hard to match (see our article on the most prolific actors on JoRafCinema). It is remarkable that I find things better done than in the original while others not so, but it is not a total betrayal of the original material like remakes often are, it looks more like a heart-felt homage. The story is transported to our times and its cell phones and cameras everywhere but that's fine, it even makes fun of it when the cop asks for a witness not to post a video and she laughs saying she did hours ago and gets ton of clicks. The music is a bit too present. While I love the cinematography from the original movie, the one in the remake is totally forgettable. I can tell of 10 scenes in the original that I enjoyed watching for their framing, none in this one. The genre is changed from a Vigilante movie to a (Rape and) Revenge one which makes its message totally different. In this movie (spoiler, highlight to read) he hunts and kills all the responsible for his drama while in the original we never see them again which leaves us scared at the end. And this message is carried by a man with a different profession, the new one allowing him different actions which I find unnecessary. The difference in the injuries suffered by Kersey's family also changes the weight of the ending, making it more "happy" to conform to nowadays' taste. I prefer the look of the original, but I can't deny that it has some flaws in the story and character's logic, while this one is better put together and the ending makes more sense. In particular the last interaction with the police is for me much better written. Not bad for a modest remake.
Rating: 6 /10