Hollywood loves a good franchise. The movie-going public does too. Horror, action, comedy, sci-fi, western, no genre is safe. And any film, no matter how seemingly stand-alone, conclusive, or inappropriate to sequel, could generate an expansive franchise. They are legion. We are surrounded. But a champion has risen from the rabble to defend us. Me. I have donned my sweats and taken up cinema’s gauntlet. Don’t try this at home. I am a professional.

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The Franchise: Death Wish — following the on-going killing spree of Paul Kersey, a liberal pacifist architect who is transformed into a gun-toting vigilante after his family is attacked by muggers. The series stretched over five films from 1974 to 1994.

previous installments
Death Wish

The Installment: Death Wish 2 (1982)

Punks Dealt Bronson Justice: 10

The Story: It has been four movie years since the events of Death Wish, and things are looking pretty good for Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson). He is living in sunny Los Angeles. He’s dating a reporter, Geri (the real-life Mrs. Bronson, Jill Ireland), and his daughter Carol (Robin Sherwood) is doing better — instead of a complete vegetable, now she’s just retarded! And despite how things were left off in Chicago at the end of the first film, it seems that Kersey has made peace with the punks of the world and given up on vigilantism. When a gang of jackassy street thugs (including Lawrence Fishburn) steal his wallet, Kersey chases them down, but after disarming one of them, he just lets the scum go free. But his magnanimity proves ill-placed when the resentful punk talks the other punks into tracking Kersey down. They break into his house, savagely raping his house keeper. When Kersey returns, they knock him out and kidnap Carol. When Carol ends up dying in the punks’ custody, Kersey re-opens hunting season on street trash. Once more the police take notice, and seek the wisdom of the NYPD. And once more the intrepid, morally ambiguous Lt. Frank Ochoa (Vincent Gardenia) is sent to persuade Kersey to quit gun slinging.

What Works: Oh, hello there 1980’s. How are ya.

Though only four years have passed in the Death Wish-verse, eight years passed in the real world (technically making this film a period piece). Bronson was now in his 60’s, lookin’ fly as ever, though much grayer. Far more significantly, though, the 1970’s had ended, and as if the inherent major zeitgeist shifts that took place since 1974 weren’t going to be enough, the film was birthed by 80’s exploitation/schlock champions Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus (whose names sound like Dr. Who aliens), of the fabled Cannon Films, who bought the rights to the franchise from Dino De Laurentiis. Oh, shit was on now.

If we’re viewing Death Wish 2 purely as a sequel to Death Wish, it is hard to say much of anything “works” in this film, because though its tweaks to Kersey and the story are small on paper, they amount to a decisive shift from the original. But we’re here to examine the whole franchise, and in a sense, this is where the series really begins. So acknowledging that the excesses of the series are part of its pleasures, I must commend the punks in Death Wish 2 for really bring their A-game. Larry Fishburn and his over-the-top goon squad make Jeff Goldblum and his ass painting cohorts seems positively subtle by comparison. Michael Winner clearly decided to stop fucking around with the serious drama element present in the first film and start strolling down the path of gonzo exploitation.  I’ve always loved the silly multi-ethnic street gangs we see in movies, and we’ve got quite the ensemble here.

For one thing, they have “awesome” gang names, like Cutter (Fishburn), Nirvana, Jiver, Stomper, and my favorite name, Plunkett — that dude certainly lost the nickname drawing process. Like all street punks in the Death Wish-verse, the only thing thing these tough guys love more than rapin’ ‘n robbin’ is clowning around, making crazy faces, and just hamming it up in general. Not to be outdone by just any posse of ridiculous corny thugs, Fishburn and co. also love sexy gay dancing with each other. I’m so glad someone put this scene up on youtube, cause it’s just so unintentionally amazing.

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That isn’t the actual song from the film, obviously, but it serves its purpose. I love the look on Kersey’s face, which can easily be misconstrued to imply that Bronson is thinking the same thing we are, “What…the fuck…?” Nirvana is the best of the thugs, and the last to be killed. His arrest scene is high-gonzo, featuring Nirvana whacked out on PCP and fulfilling the urban legend that the drug turns you into the Incredible Hulk. Nrivana goes on a Marv-like tear through dozens of cops. I was waiting for him to pick up a car like Dewey Cox in Walk Hard. But Nirvana’s death is one of the few legitimately great – and not just unintentionally great – scenes in the film. Kersey, determined to kill every gang member, forges a hospital security pass and gains access to Nirvana by posing as a therapist. An awesome fight breaks out between the two men, climaxing with Nirvana being electrocuted, and Kersey being let go by the hospital security. “He raped and killed my daughter,” Kersey says to the security guy. To which the guy responds, “I read about that. I’ll give you three minutes before I sound the alarm.” Classic.

Tits. Death Wish 2 is exploding with tits. Everywhere. And big tits at that. Michael Winner went all Russ Meyer somewhere between 1974 and 1982. And hey, I’m never one to begrudge a movie for showing me boobs, but even I started to think it was getting excessive. In practically any scene that features a female, her top is coming off. Or in the case of this chick…

…it was simply never on (I wonder what song she’s listening to?). But eventually the endless parade of mammaries became so comically excessive I re-embraced it.  Oh, boobs. I just can’t stay mad at you!

Michael Winner is a good old fashioned hack. And the Hack Textbook For Sequels clearly states that a sequel should be “the same, but bigger and more!” That means that once more the women in Paul Kersey’s life need to experience some home invasion brutality. It is as if Winner had a time machine and had read my discussion in the comment section of this column’s previous installment regarding the lack of rape in Death Wish, because Death Wish 2 seems to be aiming for the I Spit On Your Grave Award for extra rapiness. Kersey’s maid is individually raped by all five members of the gang in such a cartoonish fashion its almost hard to believe it’s not supposed to be funny. This scene is awful, really, but memorable in its gratuitousness. Then there is the rape of Carol Kersey, which is one of the weirdest rape scenes I think I’ve ever seen. It is hard to glean Winner’s here, but it sure seems like he wants us to find it sexy. A sexy rape scene. Carol, who is more pleasantly comatose since we left her in Death Wish, just lies there as one of the gang members undresses her and then gives her some nice, gentle non-consensual sexing. The creepiest part is that look on her face seems kinda like one of enjoyment. And the scene just goes on and on too. It’s like we’ve entered some whole weird other kind of perv-noir film. Then, to cap things off in true Death Wish fashion, once the sexy rape is over, Carole springs to her feet and jumps through a window, impaling herself on a wrought iron fence below (a death generally reserved for villains). And thus ends Carol Kersey.

On a more legitimate note, I enjoyed seeing the return of Vincent Gardenia. I usually think it is obnoxious when sequels try and work in popular characters from the previous film even when they don’t logically belong, but it actually works here — with Ochoa being sent out to LA by the NYPD to make sure Kersey isn’t arrested (where he might spill the beans about the New York police letting him go). The implication here being that Ochoa may have to kill Kersey.

I also liked the absurd Los Angeles detective who loves to withhold medical treatment from witnesses – both criminal and innocent citizens alike – while trying to get information about Kersey.

What Doesn’t Work: The Death Wish franchise follows a similar trajectory as the Rambo franchise. Much like First Blood II, Death Wish 2 completely drops all the ambiguities and character shading that was present in the first film. Kersey doesn’t feel complex anymore. The fixed purpose of his accurately directed vengeance in this film may be emotionally satisfying, but it is much less intriguing that the abstract killings from the first film. That alone isn’t a huge issue though, but they have basically dropped Death Wish all together. Death Wish 2 is almost a reboot.

For one thing, apparently Kersey didn’t kill anyone while living in Chicago. This can easily be inferred by the fact that the moment he starts killing people in Los Angeles, it reminds everyone of the famous killings in New York. Surely any killings in Chicago would have elicited the same reaction. This is disappointing. Kersey had basically become a murderous Batman, taking to the streets, always chasing the phantom of those who hurt his family. But now that was just a one time thing, and Kersey learned his lesson. All better now. Time to move on. And this time around the filmmakers seem to be trying hard to remove any ambiguity from Kersey’s motivations. When Kersey is recapping the events of the first film, he notes that the police had very good descriptions of Goldblum and the other assailants, but were unable to do anything about it. That’s not true though. Carol’s idiotic catatonia prevented her from looking at mugshots. The descriptions came from the employees of the grocery store and they were not very detailed. But the reasoning for this tweak is clearly to give Kersey the feeling that the same thing will just happen here in LA again. Lame.

Speaking of Carol. Ugh. This character. Thank god she’s finally gone. Having his daughter get attacked a second time in a different city? That feels like a joke. Paul Kersey is reaching a Precious level of comical life-woes. And Carol has overcome her catatonia. Now she’s just mildly retarded and mute. If I had never seen the first film, I would have honestly assumed Carol had a learning disability. Ridiculous.

I can handle/enjoy the absurd heightened nature of the criminals in this film, but it doesn’t work for me when that spreads to other characters. When two victims that Kersey saved from an attempted robbery are being questioned by the police, they both immediately refuse to give any information about Kersey. Why? They don’t have the faintest idea what’s going on, that Kersey is a vigilante and that the police aim to stop him. This hasn’t been in the news. If some random person saved you from being killed and then ran away, you’d be confused as hell and would most certainly describe the situation if the police asked. Come on Death Wish 2. This movie also features the most passive bus driver ever, who says absolutely nothing while our gang is terrorizing passengers and vandalizing the bus. I’ve only ridden the bus four times in LA in the past five years, and two of those times the bus drivers pulled the bus over to kick some ass on a rowdy passengers.

The score. We’ve gone from jazz legend Herbie Hancock to guitar god Jimmy Paige. This seems like a cool move, but the results are rather comical and dated. I literally laughed out loud during the opening credits theme, full of cheesily soaring guitar shreds.

From a story perspective the biggest fail of the film is the romantic subplot with Geri. Everything about it is a bad decision. Realistically, it was fucking weird that Geri never acknowledged that Kersey’s retarded daughter had been raped and killed mere days ago. She immediately goes back to their relationship as usual, complaining about not getting to see him and setting up sexy dinner dates. This makes her really unlikable if we’re supposed to buy any of it emotionally. Further more, Kersey lies to her about what he’s doing, re: killing. While on the surface this may seem logical, it has the side-effect of revealing that Kersey knows what he’s doing is wrong and that he doesn’t really love Geri. A significantly more interesting scene would have found Kersey trying to explain his motivations to the woman. Though, worst of all, really, is the simple fact that this subplot is boring. Considering that Bronson and Ireland were in love in real life, and that they made over a dozen films together, you’d think they would have better chemistry.

Most Egregious Punk Moment: I’m gonna give it to the punk licking the maid’s bare ass. Michael Winner definitely has a thing for ass desecration.

Best Bronson Kill: The entirety of the Nirvana kill.

Best Punk Dialogue:
Referring to raping the maid.
Stomper: Nirvana, you want a bit?
Nirvana: Any left?
Stomper: There’s enough.

Best Bronson Dialogue:
As Kersey is about to kill Stomper.
Paul Kersey: You believe in Jesus…
Stomper: Yes, I do.
Paul Kersey: Well, you’re gonna meet him.

Was Justice Satisfactorily Handed Out: And then some.

Should There Have Been A Sequel: Well, once again the film ends with the implication that Kersey is just going to keep killing. But why should I believe them this time? They are liars! Liars!

Up Next: Death Wish 3

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