Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Death Wish (2018)

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 03-03-2018, 09:37 PM:

CINEMA: Cinetopia Overland Park 18, Overland Park, KS
AUDITORIUM: 15
PRESENTATION: Cinetopia Living Room Recline-o-Vision Stadium Seating with Mystery Meat "Super HD" Digital and proper screen masking (!) and a $15 1/2 lb Tillamook Cheeseburger
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: That burger was so good it was almost distracting
RATING: Three stars (out of four)

Wow. The "Deadpool" trailer alone was worth the price of admission.

THE PLOT: A home invasion goes awry. Wackiness ensues.

I was all in the moment I saw the trailer associating Eli Roth and Bruce Willis's names with the Death Wish franchise. I would've bought an advance ticket that day if they were on sale. I had grand visions of the graphic violence Roth could bring and the humor Willis could add.

That doesn't really happen, though...at least initially. The setup break-in doesn't come near the graphic rape scene of the original (probably the first sex scene I ever saw in a movie, right around the age of 13), being replaced by minor clothed sexual assault. Some of the robbers even appear to have morals.

But that all changes when we get to the garage, which is EXACTLY what I was looking for. Which figures, since that's primarily what they used in the trailer.

Dean Norris as the detective is great. His involvement in the wrap-up is outright satirical. If there's one thing I would have wished for, it would have been for Bethany to hook up with Kersey somehow so they could have been all badass in a gun battle together.

I probably liked this way more than I should have.

Posted by Allan Young (Member # 6332) on 03-04-2018, 06:01 AM:

quote: Sam Graham
Wow. The "Deadpool" trailer alone was worth the price of admission.

Was it as good as the Bob Ross teaser trailer?

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 03-04-2018, 07:20 AM:

quote: Allan Young
Was it as good as the Bob Ross teaser trailer?

HAAAAA HAHAHAHAAAAA, That was awesome.

But no. It was THIS

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 03-07-2018, 04:04 AM:

The original Death Wish series was despicable to me, especially the sequels. I love vigilante movies. But the director of the first couple of Death Wishes seemed to get off on the rape scenes and not as much on the revenge scenes.At least, I Spit on your Grave took delight in both the victimization ANd the revenge scenes. The kills of the bad guys in the movies are just run of the mill. But the director spent so much time showing how the victims were raped. The rape scene in Death wish 2 was the worst of them all. I am sure Laurence Fishburne must regret being a part of that movie if he looks back on that scene now.

And no one does revenge vigilante movies as good as Mel Gibson. Bruce Willis just killed his stature doing too many of those direct to streaming movies.

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-19-2018, 03:53 PM:

I read underplaying the revenge scenes in the original differently. To me, the point Winner was making is that the Bronson character doesn't revel in or glorify the process of killing the bad guys (in the scene where he visits his friend and is given the gun, he is shown to be reluctant to take it): he just feels that they need to be gone, and when he's achieved that, he moves on. He doesn't want them to die a slow and painful death, so we don't see that - he just wants rid of them.

I have more of a problem with I Spit on Your Grave (both the original and the remake), because the revenge scenes are more protracted, gratuitious and exploitative. There's also the rural/urban thing going on in I Spit..., too (as in Deliverance, Straw Dogs, The Wicker Man, Inbred, etc.) - everyone who lives in the countryside is a sexually perverted, homicidal hillbilly, and it takes a civilized person from the big city to sort them out (usually by killing them). At least Death Wish doesn't resort to that cliche.

Haven't managed to see the remake yet, but will try to.

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 03-30-2018, 01:15 PM:

Eli Roth is such hack in my opinion, his 'Green Inferno' had such potential