Death Wish

Death Wish is Bruce Willis's newest movie about a father/husband that takes the law into his own hands following a break-in that leaves his wife dead and his daughter in a coma. He goes from a surgeon dedicated to saving lives, to a man out for revenge. This is a remake on the original Death Wish movie released in 1974, but with a different base story line.

I am not sure how this movie received a 6.8 out of 10 on IMDb because I would not have rated it anywhere near a 5. I thought Red Sparrow was a man's movie? I had no idea what Death Wish had in store for me. I went in with some high hopes. I mean, come on, it is Bruce Willis. He's THE action heroine, right? When a new Bruce Willis movie is coming out, everyone wants to see it. This one was so far from impressive, I had to keep notes on my phone with all the issues so that I didn't forget any of them. There were that many...

1. Elisabeth Shue, who plays Willis's wife, left something to be desired in her acting. When someone breaks into your house, and you're standing in the kitchen, do you trip all over yourself in search of your phone instead of grabbing a weapon? Granted the robbers did have guns, but it took her way longer to find her phone than it would've taken to hide a knife behind her back. Then, when she was begging them to leave her and her daughter alone, her acting was horrible.

2. Who wrote this script? Was it intentionally bad or were the robbers meant to look stupid? One of them is told to tie up the daughter, so he starts searching the kitchen for rope. He then asks the daughter where they keep the rope. First of all, who keeps rope in the kitchen?? Second, who even has rope? Is that a thing everyone has because if so I am way behind the times. Guess I should go get some and keep it in my kitchen next to the cereal in case a robber decides to break in some night.

3. Willis goes to visit Detective Kevin Raines (Dean Norris) who is one of the detectives assigned to the robbery cases. In Raines's office there is a board that is nearly filled with notes on all the recent activity that they need to investigate. At the bottom right hand corner of the board (in giant block letters) is a note that says "we are going to need a bigger board." Who decided that was necessary? How many cops take the time to type out a note saying they need a bigger board when the board is that full of work? I think you have more important things to be doing.

4. When Paul Kersey (Willis) goes to the gun shop to prepare himself for battle, he learns about how easy it is to apply for a gun. Bethany, played by Kirby Bliss Blanton, gives a small speech that must set off every liberal in America. Something along the lines of, fill out this form and you'll be approved in 72 hours. Other than that all you need is a gun safety class and you're all set, so which gun looks good. I could feel the audience holding their breathe at that.

5. Instead of getting approved for a gun at Bethany's shop, Kersey returns to work. Soon after, a man is brought in with a gunshot wound, and he just happens to drop his glock on the floor. A simple kick to hide that under the gurney before they wheel the man away, leaves Paul with a weapon. Seriously people, I can't make this stuff up.

I've never seen the original Death Wish movie from 1974, but I really hope it was better than this. Yes, I watched the whole movie, but only because I wanted to find how someone could rate this a 6.8 out of 10. I think that means that the majority of voters on IMDb are men. About 68% perhaps? We shall never know.