Paul Magne Haakonsen While I wasn't overly impressed with the first "Death Wish" movie from 1974, I still went on to watch the rest of the movies in the franchise.It turned out that "Death Wish II" was almost exactly the same story as in the first "Death Wish" movie. With the exception that it takes place in California instead of New York. But this time it is his daughter who dies, whereas it was the wife in the first movie.Sure, "Death Wish II" was fun to watch, but don't expect to be intellectually challenged in any way by director Michael Winner.Now, I will say that it was hilarious to watch Lawrence Fishbourne in this movie, especially since he looked like a gay futuristic skater.

gorf Death Wish 2 is one of the most disgusting and immoral "mainstream" movies from the 80s. It makes the rest of the Death Wish movies look like cinematic masterpieces. It makes me want to rewatch "Death Sentence" with Kevin Bacon. It's pointless and cruel...it's scene after scene of ugliness and sadism. Some people actually defend the pornographic scene where the maid is raped and killed, saying stuff like: "the director wanted to show how awful rape really is!" Yeah, thank you Michael Winner (ironic name), for showing us that it's wrong to rape and murder people. What? Not one, but TWO rape scenes in the same movie? How generous.No wonder the author of the novel hated these movies. They completely miss the point. The point of the novel is that revenge and vigilantism is a bad idea. This movie does the opposite...and even then, it fails, because there's no hero to root for in DW2. He doesn't accomplish anything good...he just kills a bunch of scumbags. What a pointless movie.The Death Wish movies are often labeled as "right-wing" fantasies, but that's not entirely true. It combines the worst elements from both worlds. Right-wing extremists will love the "guns and violence solve everything" stuff. And there's nothing leftists love more than sexual deviance, profanity and eeevil Christians.This year, a new version of Death Wish came out. Judging from the trailer it's just more of the same sadistic garbage. Don't waste your time or money.

Brasstaxation The darkest of the famed series, Bronson exacts calculated revenge under the neon lights of L.A. The soundtrack, which is performed by Jimmy Page, enhances this venture into the urban macabre. There is no other soundtrack that could be used here, it's equal parts grimy and iconic and fits the film perfectly. Not a film for the faint of heart, most of Bronson's 80's films tended to be a bit controversial, Death Wish 2's sheer brutality is what gives it its charm if you can call it that. This is top-of-the-shelf early 1980's exploitation fare at its dirtiest and is worth a viewing for fans of the genre and/or Bronson fans.

Leofwine_draca Michael Winner's follow-up to his cult vigilante classic offers more of the same, with less satisfying results, and reeks of a senseless, exploitational cash-in. Seemingly it's a film centred around one distasteful and graphic rape scene, using it as an excuse to set off Bronson on another round of shooting punks and youths. What irritated me most about this film was the sheer lack of imagination involved - scenes of Bronson going around simply shooting the thugs and bad guys with corny one-liners simply don't stand up against the mincing machine/mercury dumb-dumb bullet deaths that made THE EXTERMINATOR a minor classic of vigilante cinema.It may be a low budget film but the camera-work is fine, and some of the shoot-outs are staged in an exciting way. It's certainly a lot more polished-looking than THE EXTERMINATOR was. It's just a shame that the so-called "plot" is a mere retread of the original and offers up absolutely nothing of originality or much interest. All characters in this film are bland, cardboard cut-outs so it's hard to get worked up about anything that happens.Bronson here is particularly wooden, and often seems to be an automaton when he prowls the streets. He doesn't get upset about the death of his daughter, or even change his expression when she dies. Jill Ireland's role in the film is pointless. Vincent Gardenia is probably the best character, a likable detective who's trailing Bronson, but even he is wasted. The mindless thugs who kill Bronson's maid and daughter are just that, mindless thugs, there's nothing particularly cruel or evil about them. They're probably chiefly of interest today for the appearance of Laurence Fishburne in their ranks, an actor who has certainly gone on to bigger and better things.Although the film is heavily cut (by over three minutes) here in the UK, it still manages to be thoroughly unpleasant in the snippets of the rape scene that we do get to see - and for once, I'm with the censors on this. What irritates me most is that the eventual 'justice' that Bronson brings to the rapists doesn't even match the awfulness of the original crime, he just shoots them dead and that's it. As I mentioned, the shoot-outs are interestingly and fluidly staged but still become repetitive, although the film's running time does seem to fly by. There are no messages here and Winner's direction is flat. DEATH WISH II is a waste of time unless you're a fan of cold, pointless violence, and everything that a sequel shouldn't be.