By Geno McGahee
One of my favorite actors of all time is Charles Bronson. He had one of the best action film runs of any actor, including MURPHY’S LAW, 10 TO MIDNIGHT and the DEATH WISH series. In 1974, the original DEATH WISH was released. It was a gritty drama with some action elements, but it was mostly just a really intense drama.
In 1982, DEATH WISH II would be released and it would feature the same disturbing elements that the first one had, but it would start shifting over to an action film. In 1985, DEATH WISH III would be unleashed and it was an over the top, fun, ridiculous action film. The reluctant killer, Paul Kersey (Bronson), was now a machine, taking out hundreds of bad guys with various weapons. DEATH WISH IV: THE CRACKDOWN would be released in 1987 and would follow the pattern of the third entry. It would be another fun action film with Kersey taking down bad guys by the dozen. The series overall took the same path that the ROCKY series did. It started as a strong drama and then shifted into complete action films. It was a great way to re-invent the story and keep it interesting. Unfortunately, the DEATH WISH series did not end in 1987. A few years later, it would return in a straight-to-video mess called DEATH WISH V: THE FACE OF DEATH.
Kersey (Bronson) is back and he is dating a fashion designer, Olivia (Lesley-Anne Down), but her ex-husband, a mobster, Tommy O’Shea (Michael Parks), is making things difficult. Olivia and Tommy share a daughter and Kersey has assumed the father role and has become aware of her ex’s bad habits. The stage is set for a showdown between the two.
O’Shea has a couple of goons and his ex-wife is seen as a problem. When she agrees to testify against him in court and put him away, she is taken out. Now Kersey must do what he does best and take out O’Shea and his people. There are some good lines in this that I found amusing. O’Shea asks Kersey if guns make him nervous, and he replies: “Guns have their uses. Idiots with guns make me nervous.” Bronson does his best with the material he has, but he just doesn’t have much to work with here. The storyline and dialogue just aren’t DEATH WISH material.
This film does follow the 80’s style action formula, but it is very weak. I liked Michael Parks as the bad guy, but, once again, this story is terrible, and this in no way feels like a DEATH WISH movie.
In the end, DEATH WISH V: THE FACE OF DEATH is not a true entry in this series. The producers got their hands on the name and Bronson in his later years and made this film. It’s likely that this wasn’t written as a DEATH WISH movie. They just took some screenplay that was collecting dust, changed the name of the lead character to “Kersey” and made this. I wonder if the real name of this movie was “THE FACE OF DEATH” and they just tagged on DEATH WISH V to sell it.
As much as I love Bronson and his films, this one was just poor. It’s too bad that they had Bronson and the name of the series and put this out. They blew an opportunity without question and this is one of the few Bronson movies that I will not recommend.
Rating: 3/10