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Death Wish 2 (1982)

Dir: Michael Winner

Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) had been run out of New York following his vigilante killings, now, a few years later, we find him in L.A working as an Architect and dating local radio news reporter Geri Nichols (Bronson's real life Wife Jill Ireland) and his Daughter Carol (Robin Sherwood) is on the slow road to recovery after the murder of her Mother and her own assault in New York that started Kersey on his vigilante cause.

While taking Carol on a day trip away from her psychiatric hospital with Geri Kersey has his wallet stolen by a gang of thugs. Kersy gives chase but fails to get his wallet back.

The gang get Paul's address from his I.D and break into his home where they brutally gang rape his Maid Rosario (Silvana Gallardo) before surprising Kersey and Carol as they enter the house. They knock Paul out, and kidnap Carol, taking her to a deserted warehouse.
After being raped by one of the gang, Carol attempts to escape by jumping out of a window, but she is killed on the spiked railings below.

Having been letdown by the Police in New York, Kersey is reluctant to waste time on letting the Law find the attackers, and instead he once gain picks up his gun and heads out onto the mean L.A streets to hunt down the criminals that have once again ripped his life apart….

This belated sequel to the unjustly maligned 70's classic "Death Wish" is a very different, and far more simplistic and brutish beast.
And it comes as no surprise to see the infamous 'Cannon Films' duo Yoram Globus and Menahem Golan down as Producers. 'Cannon' were to become the kings of 80's opportunist popcorn action flicks, normally containing hints of sleaze and whatever trend was popular at the time.

Whereas the 70's New York atmosphere was a huge strength of the first film, the vapid 80's vibe here is actually a weakness, as is much of the bright and sunny L.A superficiality in the first 30 minutes of the film.
Luckily though the later scenes, shot in the nighted rundown areas, are a welcome return to the concrete jungle atmosphere of the first film (though L.A will never be New York) with some nice footage of gaudy flea-pit cinemas, mission districts and Hollywood Boulevard low living.

It's the extremely nasty home invasion sequence that to this day remains this film's most infamous legacy. Heavily censored on its American release (and still censored today) and a real hated sequence by UK censors, to this day it remains a shocking piece of footage in its uncut form.
The screams plus the horrified and pained reactions of Rosario (a disturbingly convincing performance by Gallardo) as she is brutalised make for unpleasant viewing but the most disturbing aspect is the way Winner shoots the rape.
Many of the shots look they are straight out of a rough sex soft-core porn film as Rosario goes through multiple abusers and sexual positions all shot with plentiful full frontal nudity.
It's extreme stuff and goes much further than is necessary to simply portray what is happening to the victim.
Whereas the assault in the first film was no more explicit than it had to be to convey what abuses were being carried out, the sequence here actually makes the abuse part of the film.
It goes far beyond simply showing the audience basically what has happened (again like the first film) and instead turns the abuse into an actual set-piece event.
It's utterly crass, exploitative and gratuitous.

After carefully treading the line in the first film, between valid depictions of the crimes that set-up the movie's central premise and out and out exploitation, in "Death Wish 2" Winner blatantly crosses that line without a care in the World, and wallows in the beatings and rapes as if they were a car chase or shootout.
The Daughter's almost comatose rape is at least given a disturbing veneer, and there is genuine sadness here as she simply stares blankly into space, especially when you consider what she has already been through in the first film. This is one girl who is indeed cursed.
But again, Winner makes sure that the baring of her breasts is filmed like a conventional nude scene and again, like the home invasion rape, he makes sure we notice just how much pleasure and excitement the abusers are getting from their acts even supplying a brief shot of the rapists penis.

There is no mistake here, Winner has this time decided to go all out and make a simple Exploitation movie.
And the assault on Rosario is certainly one of THE most exploitative set-ups ever seen in a Studio movie, this thing would put many low rent Indy productions to shame as it revels with twisted glee in its taboo mix of sex and violence.

Acting wise the film is not as strong as the first with Jill Ireland as wooden as always and yet again shows why she hardly ever worked outside of her Husband's films, purely because no one else would have her. And most of the scenes concerning her character hurt the film's pacing.

Film buffs will recognise sometime John Carpenter actor Charles Cyphers in a small but important role as a Hospital attendant
And there is a rather pointless single scene cameo by Anthony Franciosa ("Tenebre") as the Police Commissioner.

On a more positive note there is a welcome extended cameo return for Vincent Gardenia's grizzled Cop Frank Ochoa from the first movie, who goes to L.A when news breaks about 'The Vigilante'.
And just like in the first film he brings a welcome World weary humour to the proceedings as he chews on his cigars and battles frequent coughs and sneezes, and his character makes a nice link the events in "Death Wish".

As for the gang of attackers they are basically brutal pantomime villains leading a life of non-stop law breaking, partying, raping, drug taking and general loutish behaviour of a more childish nature.
But all the actors (including Laurence Fishburn, still at the time struggling along after his break in "Apocalypse Now") do a solid job at portraying sleazeballs and they are a welcome addition as far as entertainment goes.

Bronson himself is little more than a living chunk of granite here, showing little emotion at anything that befalls him, even the death of his Daughter.
His character is given none of the complex emotions witnessed in "Death Wish" and certainly nothing in the way of the psychological upheaval and turmoil he had to deal with after the attack on his family in the first film.
True, you can indeed make the case that after the events of "Death Wish", and his subsequent move into vigilantism, that Kersey would be almost numb to the evils that can befall innocent people in this World…But the total lack of anything deeper or emotive than a wrinkled forehead at the sight of his dead Daughter's body comes over as ridiculous and is more likely a symptom of bad scripting, slack directing and uninterested acting.
Which is sad considering how well and pretty realistically Kersey's emotions and troubles were portrayed in the first film.

So then, given all of the above it's clear Michael Winner and screenwriter David Engelbach have decided to do the 80's thing and make a film that is almost pure action, sleaze and violence. This decision is a letdown after the attitude to it's subject seen in the first film, but not in itself a bad thing if you now consider this nothing more than a slice of almost undiluted Exploitation.
And no matter where else the film may fall short, it most certainly delivers as hard ass piece of violent, crowd pleasing, vigilante exploitation.

So lets leave the negative behind and get into the good stuff.

Unlike the first film, where Kersey realistically never found the faceless men that attacked his Family, here David Engelbach obviously thinks the audience wants Kersey to have a more direct revenge.
So seeing as he knows what the criminals look like this time, Kersey is given the chance to deal out death to those actually responsible. He even lets people go who weren't involved, or are not an immediate threat, meaning perhaps Kersey has mellowed from his all out war against everyone and is this time only targeting those who have harmed him and his Family.
Some of this is grossly unrealistic though, as often he simply chances upon a crime and as luck would have it at least one or more of the perps are part of the gang that attacked his home!

They also get him toting the gun earlier than in the first film, but this is definitely a fair aspect of the character that the film draws up, as the anti-violence Paul Kersey of the first film who found it hard to pick up a gun, is by now a hardened avenging angel.
And just to prove how far this film is going away from the first and into the realms of fantasy (very entertaining fantasy though it has to be said) we even have Kersey at one point donning a cunning disguise to track down his prey!

And as it's the 80's, we of course have the old tongue in cheek one 'tough' dialogue. Best of which is an exchange between Kersey and a crucifix wearing scumbag
Kersey: "Do you believe in Jesus"?
Thug: "Yes I do"
Kersey: "Well, you're going to meet him".

Sporting his essential woollen Beanie hat, Kersey (and it has to be said Bronson) is given a wonderful visual trick to portray the his dark presence via his shadow ominously looming large across the city as he prowls the streets, giving the character a far more comic strip anti-hero standing than the first time around. One shadow shot in particular was obviously a big influence on a scene in 1987's "RoboCop".
Kersey has become a very conservative prude though, and basically anything remotely 'unwholesome' and anyone not wearing a suit is as classed as scum. This guy must have voted for Reagan.

Kersey is also given some great scenes of justice dispensing and the shootouts (with some nice and messy bullet hits) are more flamboyant and complex than the first film with some satisfying scenes of bad guys getting blown away.
And these frequent sequences definitely move this sequel far closer into 'action movie' territory than its predecessor.

The score by Prog Rock legend Jimmy Page is less successful than the one done by Herbie Hancock for the original due to too many cheesy guitar riffs and bland 'romance' cues that have not aged well.
But it certainly has its moments and is at it's strongest during the scenes of Kersey roaming the streets as electronic stings punctuate the appearance of 'The Vigilante'.

It all ends in a suitably cheesy fashion (though nothing like as good as the wonderful final shot in the first movie) that makes sure Paul and his vigilante ways can go on into other films if fate decreed it would be so.
And of course fate did. Resulting in 3 more sequels (#3 and #4 being produced by the aforementioned 'Cannon Films'), but only one more with Winner at the helm.
The J Lee Thompson directed "Death Wish 4: The Crackdown" was the best, with the truly awful "Death Wish 5: The Face of Death" bringing the series to a very sad end after 20 years with a 73 year old Bronson stretching credibility until it shatters, as the franchise went out with a whimper that was a million miles away from the wonderful and iconic original.

But although, even as early as 1982, "Death Wish 2" was moving the once serious character of Paul Kersey (and the vigilante plot itself) into the comic strip realm, the film certainly delivers as a brash, crass, unapologetic wallow in nastiness and violent action. And treated as nothing more than an atmospheric inner city Exploitation film…the movie is a great success.