It's really hard to understand all the hate, critically for this film, like, Ebert's review or Maltins, who actually rates the third one better than than this. Maltin's a bit of a weird cat. You could actually say, it's, what I refer to as a stereotypical sequel, where there's a plain blatant excuse to make it, that having Bronson's traumatized daughter raped, and his maid killed (very familiar setting to the one in the first) after getting on the wrong side of this gang, who after clubbing Bronson on the head, kidnap his precious girl.This ultimately leads to a much worse fate, where another close soul is taken from him, where this catalyst, propels him back into gun firing, vigilante action. You can very much tell, the early rape scenes, have been cut heaps for the Aussie version, especially the one, involving the maid. The movie does has ordinary, uninspiring dialogue. I've seen much better in short film scripts. Who hired this writer? The film indeed has it's problems, with some unintentionally funny moments, one involving a kooky and confused psychiatrist, near the end, who's forgotten which way the men's room is. The hoods are very real, an early Laurence Fishburne being one of them, while the standout was Kevin Major Howard, a very underused actor, who at times, looked like he forgot his blocking. The line involving Jesus, where Bronson confronts him, is the one I'll remember. Jill Ireland is very good as Bronson's new love, adding a warmth to the film, while Gardenia (the old fogy detective from the first) visit's L.A. as pretty much knowing who this new hero/vigilante is, taking down the population number. With a bit of a comedown ending, relationship wise, this second Death Wish installment, is very lively, colorfully entertaining (popcorn fodder) and isn't a bad sequel, with some good plotting, the story going some places you don't expect. It's very 80's too, with it's share of violence, some of it a bit nasty and sickening. Hey, this is Death Wish, we're talking' about. One line in it, poses the "mulling over" question. "Is killing people who have killed people, right?" I don't have to mull it over. In my opinion: "Yes". Another opinion, is this movie has been wrongly vindicated. It is not a bad movie, despite this wrongful opinion from a majority of critics. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Review of Death Wish II
