Death Wish vs. Death Sentence

consp77

on 4/16/2018

I really didn't like any of the Death Wish movies, and I didn't really like this year's remake either. And I thought I would like this, but it doesn't work either. Kevin Bacon is more believable than Bronson or Willis as an ordinary middle class kind of guy who would never consider he could ever become like this, but on the other hand, I've never found Bacon to be a sympathetic screen presence, so the casting of the character, for me, still fails. As a matter of style, Wan's direction is overheated, and the cinematographer overexposes everything, it looks like a slicker version of a grimy 70's grindhouse, it's an ugly looking film. Even if it doesn't glorify vigilantism, I never felt like the filmmakers felt they were making a film about morality. Roth's version had a lot more elan, so I can forgive casting Willis as a doctor, or the ridiculous arsenal that he had amassed by the end of the film. One thing in particular didn't make sense - when the gang comes to Bacon's house, they are armed up to the teeth with shotguns (engaging in an admirably staged shootout), but when they go to kill Bacon's other loved ones (is this really a spoiler?) they use these smaller caliber guns, one shot each, to the side of the body. You would think if they were spiteful enough to see this all through, they would ensure maximum splatter dead center in the head or the heart, and check to be sure they were dead before leaving. But of course this would mean the end of the story, and I can't forgive that kind of lazy storytelling, it's worse than anything Roth did. And then all three versions are still too chicken to make their crime gangs anything but multi-ethnic, and primarily white.