jasonisageek
I'll admit, despite my love for the series as I explored them all for the very first time within this past year, I was a little weary going into this one for a number of reasons. First of all, that cover is just awful. It looks like a Made-for-TV movie. It's also not an entry in the decades long franchise that anyone ever mentions. At least, not in my experience. But I needed to finish the franchise, even if I wasn't particularly all that excited about this one.Truthfully, it took a good 30 minutes for me to really get into it. Much like the cover art, it has a very Made-for-TV quality about it. Yet it's not a bad looking film. Writer/director Allan A. Goldstein does give the film an overall nice look, despite the film looking limited to an extent. But still, he's an odd choice for something like this, especially when you look at all the previous entries. Nothing in Goldstein's past filmography would lead you to believe he could deliver a solid Death Wish film. Nothing. My guess is Menaham Golan got him cheap. So I was kind of thrown off with that for a bit, but I'm glad I stuck it through because the film only got better and better as it moved along. In fact, simply based on how the film looked and started right off the bat, I was not at all expecting it to go where it ultimately did in terms of the action and violence.Poor Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson). The guy just cannot catch a break. It doesn't matter where he moves, or how many years have passed since the last catastrophe, he just seems to attract trouble and torment. It's like it's never far behind, always just waiting in the wings for the absolute worst moment to strike, and it always does. Essentially, that's what the Death Wish films feed off of, and it's what makes them the films they are. But seriously, how much can one man take before he loses his mind? Thankfully that hasn't happened yet, and whenever tragedy strikes, Kersey shifts into revenge mode to deliver some vigilante justice, but you'd think that by now he would just stop dating altogether. I mean, every single woman in his life, whether it be a family member or love interest, dies simply because they are a woman in a Death Wish film. That's just the formula Michael Winner began with in the first film, and carried on into the second, and it's a formula the series has continued even going into this one. Now that I think about it, I can't recall a woman close to him dying in Part 3, but I could be wrong. And the kills. Oh the kills! When they finally do come into play, they're pretty spectacular. I'll just leave it at that.The cast is pretty solid, but aside from Bronson returning, the only real standout is the casting of Michael Parks as the main villain, who does a formidable job in the role as a slimy, cantankerous businessman who runs his businesses like the mob. Speaking of casting, Bronson was 72 when he made this, which just blows my mind. The guy doesn't look a day over 60 and age has not slowed him down one bit.So the film itself turned out to be a lot better than I anticipated. It takes a bit to get used to it's particular TV atmosphere, but that doesn't really last long because soon enough, it begins to slowly resemble the kind of film you were looking forward to right from the start. There's really nothing about the story that set's it apart from any of the other previous entries; the woman he loves is killed, so he goes out for revenge. Same ol' story. Though it has a lower body count than most of the other films, it's the way and manner that these sorry sons of bitches are killed that kind of blew me away. There may be less killing, but it's pretty brutal all the same. I also have to give credit to Allan A. Goldstein, the director. When the action kicked in, the film took on a whole new life and it was awesome. Whether it be a chase, shootout, fist fight or execution, the film kind of shifts gears and I kind of wish there was more violence because the film was so much better when there was. I really dig it. It's almost as if the film was directed by 2 different people, and for all I know, maybe the 2nd unit or assistant director's had something to do with that. In either case, you can bet your ass that when it comes to the "revenge" aspect to the film, Death Wish V: The Face of Death does in fact deliver the goods in a big way.Despite all my praises, because it is indeed a highly enjoyable film and better than I was expecting, it doesn't come off as one of the best in the series. In fact, taking into consideration that they're all pretty great each in their own very specific way, this would easily be the weakest in the series. But rest assured, that doesn't make it a bad film in any way. If there's anything Death Wish V proves, it's that it has a lot of things stacked against it right from the get-go, yet ultimately prevails despite it's numerous obstacles. It caught me off guard in a good way, and while it might not be the best entry in the franchise, it's vastly superior to a lot of the paint-by-numbers copycats that were prominent in this genre on both the big and little screen. It's a great film, you just have to give it a chance.www.robotGEEKSCultCinema.blogspot.com
Maziun
*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS*SPOILERS After watching "Death wish 5" I was really sad . How you could turn great and thought provoking original into a mindless franchise – with each next sequel more and more mindless, cheesy and empty ? By greed of course . The story of Paul Kersey didn't really needed a sequel. It was a great stand alone story. I could live with "Death wish" becoming a franchise , if it had at least some quality and ambition. This was not the case here. The sequels fall into cheap B-movie category and give a bad name to the famous original."Death wish 5" was obviously made for money since Bronson's career was pretty much dead at the end of the 80's . His name became associated with cheap and bad action movies made by Cannon pictures , which were full of cheese and violence. "DW 5" wasn't made by Cannon group (which bankrupted) , but unfortunately stays on the same low level as previous movies .There are one good thing I can say about this movie . It's not so dreadfully boring as the forth one , so it's not the worst in the franchise. Also the movie makers were wise enough that Bronson is too old for action hero and came out with plausible methods how he could defeat his enemies.This time Paul Kersey (under different alias , of course) fights not with street punks , but with mob. Well , at least one gangster . Once again his in relationship which isn't one bit believable and once again bad things will happen to those he cares for. At this point he's probably the most unlucky person in the world . I mean seriously 5 revenge movies in a row ?! Allan Goldstein is the director and writer of this one. As a writer he created a story that almost becomes a parody of itself – gangster who likes to dress up like a woman and has problems with dandruff , exploding ball, poisoned pancakes , powerful gangster who rules the fashion world (LOL) , district attorney who is surprised that mob is eavesdropping him. As a director he tries to impress the audience with violence and hardly anything more . Also the way he directs shootouts is terrible – it's hard to find more blind gangsters than here. I mean seriously – look at the ambush in Kersey's house. I didn't know that gangsters have such bad aim that very old Bronson can easily run along the whole house and they aren't able to hit him ! "DW 5" also offers some bad acting . Bronson gives another "just give me the money already" performance and it's obvious he doesn't really wants to be in this movie. The little girl was incredibly annoying , just like the growling gangster near the end of the movie . The rest of actors isn't better either.When Bronson kills the main villain at the end and starts throwing bad one-liners you know that the franchise hit the bottom. From movie asking important questions about justice , law , good and evil to the trashiest and cheapest dumb entertainment – the "Death wish" franchise has missed completely the point of original movie.Watch the original . Avoid the sequels . I give it 1/10.
AaronCapenBanner
Charles Bronson is back for the last time as vigilante Paul Kersey. Many years after Part IV, Paul Kersey is now living in the witness protection program(for undisclosed reasons) whose girlfriend(Lesley -Anne Down) is the ex-wife of a powerful mobster, who wants sole custody of their daughter, and retaliates against her, while at the same time trying to expand his empire in New York. Kersey must come out of retirement, and become the famous vigilante again.Charles Bronson is still remarkably game for his age, though looks bored in the film, which, despite some potential, is just tired and uninspired, though Michael Parks is good as the mob leader. Poorly directed , and filmed cheaply, sequel will be an unsatisfying end to the series, though Paul Kersey's last line to a policeman is good, and a nice coda for the character. Charles Bronson's last theatrical film.
