I’m not a fan of the first Death Wish, a mean, nasty, ugly 1974 ode to vigilantism which was incredibly popular.  There is no doubt that it was effective, but it pandered to basic, elemental fears and blood lust.  It also led to four official sequels (all starring Charles Bronson) and countless imitations.  Now it has been remade, and somewhat reconstituted, as a more palatable, less risible melodrama in which viewers are encouraged to decide for themselves if revenge justifies murder.

Eli Roth’s remake casts Bruce Willis as a rather genteel surgeon who patiently waits for the Chicago police to solve the murder of his wife and assault of his teenage daughter.  But a man can only take so much, the film argues, before taking matters into his own hands, doing what the police cannot, and extricating the truth about what happened from various thugs before dispatching them in unique ways.  The cops (Dean Norris, Kimberly Elise) are depicted as overwhelmed and somewhat hapless; meanwhile, the surgeon stumbles through his first acts of violent Good Samaritanism before he begins to develop a taste for it.  And the Greek Chorus is present, too, in the form of Chicago radio hosts who continually rant and banter about the “Grim Reaper” vigilante trying to clean up the city’s crime-ridden streets.

I expected a much nastier film than Roth delivers, but I was grateful that he kept the more horrific elements in check.  Strangely, Willis seems miscast as the vengeful surgeon — or perhaps it isn’t strange at all.  Willis’ appeal is as wiseass heroes; he isn’t villain material.  Not like Charles Bronson, or Lee Marvin, or even John Travolta.  As an intellectual character pushed into the realm of revenge, a fascinating choice would have been Steve McQueen in his prime.  Willis’ familiar persona doesn’t really allow for the surgeon’s essential innocence and grief to establish and center this particular character.

I don’t dislike this movie the way I do the 1974 version (and most of its spawn).  I appreciate Eli Roth’s more cerebral approach to what is really primal, emotionally-charged material.  But I think it would work more effectively with someone else in the Paul Kersey role.  I guess the really sad thing is that the first Death Wish became a minor cultural touchstone because its revenge seemed justifiable; more than forty years later, not much seems to have changed in that regard.  ☆ ☆.  15 March 2018