Death Wish II (1982)
“Bronson’s loose again in Death Wish II.” That’s the tagline for this second instalment in the Death Wish series, and if you’ve seen the first — and maybe even if you haven’t — it tells you everything you need to know about the follow-up.
This is one of those sequels that more or less rehashes the same story as the first movie. Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is an architect who sees women close to him raped and murdered, then turns vigilante and starts roaming the streets shooting muggers. Oh, there are a few tweaks. Paul in the original starts out as a “bleeding-heart liberal” who was a conscientious objector during the Korean War, and only became a vigilante after his wife is murdered and his daughter sexually assaulted. In Death Wish II, we already know Paul — relocated from New York to Los Angeles — is ready to start killing criminals again as soon as an appropriate tragedy takes place.
Director Michael Winner, who also helmed the first film, and screenwriter David Engelbach don’t waste time presenting such a motivator for Bronson. A gang of flamboyant hoodlums, one played by a young Laurence Fishburne, steal Paul’s wallet as he’s waiting to buy ice cream for his daughter Carol (Robin Sherwood, replacing Kathleen Tolan) and girlfriend Geri Nichols (Jill Ireland, Bronson’s real-life wife). Carol is still mute, having become catatonic after her assault in the first film, but seems to be making slow progress. The criminals use Paul’s ID to locate and invade his home, gang raping and killing maid Rosario (Silvana Gallardo). When Paul and Carol return, the gang knocks Paul unconscious, then rape and kidnap Carol.
Death Wish II hits all the expected beats. The cops of course prove useless in tracking down the gang members. By this time Paul more or less expects that — to the point where he doesn’t even bother going to the police station to look at mugshots, but almost immediately rents a cheap room at a flophouse and starts roaming seedy neighbourhoods with his gun hunting down the gang. A difference between the first and second Death Wish films is that in this one, he concentrates on killing only the assailants who attacked Rosario and Carol. In the original, no one ever locates the killers and Paul targets random criminals. The sequel is perhaps less realistic in how Paul is able to exact revenge on the perpetrators — but for the same reason more satisfying in appealing to the reptilian part of the viewer’s brain.
The Death Wish films have been accused of being right-wing propaganda that glorify vigilantism and gun violence. Death Wish II doesn’t do anything to dispel that notion. During the opening credits we hear news broadcasts painting an apocalyptic picture of exploding crime. Paul is robbed almost immediately while he’s trying to buy ice cream. The rough streets of L.A. are full of low-level criminals, freaks, prostitutes, drug addicts, and the mentally ill who menace Paul, the petty-bourgeois professional and caring family man, and his loved ones.
Like the Dirty Harry films, the Death Wish series flips the reality of the U.S. criminal “justice” system on its head. In these films, the country with the highest incarceration rate in the world is portrayed as absurdly lenient. Judges are bleeding-heart liberals who coddle violent criminals and quickly put them back on the streets. Funniest and most unrealistic of all, police are reluctant to use their guns and excessive force.
One of the most far-fetched scenes in Death Wish II is when one of the gang members, “Nirvana” (Thomas F. Duffy) runs out of a building surrounded by police that had been planning to arrest him. Nirvana, who has slashed his arm while high on PCP, runs into the street and stabs, beats, and attacks several officers. Not a single one of the cops even fires a shot at him. On the contrary, Police Commissioner Herman Baldwin (Anthony Franciosa) instructs officers not to use their guns because they might hit innocent bystanders. Meanwhile, in the real world, U.S. police killed at least 1,232 people last year, frequently brutalize protesters, and shoot bystanders while firing their guns wildly in crowded public spaces.
The preposterous way cops are portrayed in movies like Death Wish is, of course, necessary to justify Paul’s vigilantism, and to suggest police themselves could end crime if they were allowed to use lethal force as much as possible. In reality, police don’t stop crime. The state in the last analysis consists of armed bodies of men who defend existing property relations. Police fundamentally exist to protect capitalist property, which is also why police and courts are sympathetic to right-wing vigilantes such as racist killer Kyle Rittenhouse. When cops such as Lt. Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia) look the other way from Paul’s vigilantism, it rings truer than most elements in the Death Wish films.
All that said, as a fan of ’80s action movies, I get ironic enjoyment out of their right-wing politics. This isn’t the place to look for enlightened sociopolitical analysis. But as a mindless shoot ’em up and unintentionally (?) funny propaganda, Death Wish II delivers. Bronson hunts down and kills muggers in entertaining fashion. His pre-death one-liners vary in quality. “Goodbye” is as plain and minimalist as it gets. More amusing is when he tells a doomed man wearing a crucifix, “You believe in Jesus? Well, you’re gonna meet him.” The criminals he targets are portrayed in lurid fashion as deranged, violent rapists the viewer wants to see blown away (it’s noteworthy that these movies never focus on white-collar criminals or politicians, who often have much higher body counts). I laughed at how manipulative the film is in showing Paul’s (relatively) happy life once again torn apart by the vicious underclass.
The music in Death Wish II is a major added-value element, composed and performed by Jimmy Page in his first project after Led Zeppelin. Nothing earth-shattering, but Page has a gift for atmospheric guitar and keyboard parts that set an appropriate mood. It’s always cool to hear him riffing away in the background. All in all, Death Wish II supplies what it promises. While I can’t condone its message, it’s a satisfying vigilante action flick. If you liked the first Death Wish you’ll like this one.
6/10
