Death Wish 4: The
Crackdown
|
Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (1987)
You can add Charles Bronson's
DEATH WISH series to the list. DW4: THE CRACKDOWN – directed by Cannon vet J
Lee Thompson – takes place about three years after the weak DEATH WISH 3.
Bronson's Paul Kersey is running an architectural design firm and for the
last two years he's been dating Kay Lenz, a widow with a daughter in high
school. The couple is SO CLOSE that ol'
Squinty Eyes even thinks of the teen as his own. To even the most casual of
observers, this means that she'll be hitting the steel slab mighty soon. The kid dies from an overdose of
bad crack (as opposed to that good crack we've heard so much about) and the
tragedy forces Bronson out of retirement so that he can off the scum that
gave her the drugs. Pretty soon a wealthy businessman whose daughter also
died of an overdose is stockpiling the vigilante so that he can wipe out the
rival traffickers that control most of the drug biz in So Cal. Pretty soon the screen is filled
with warring drug factions, inept cops on Bronson's tail, a couple cool
shootouts, exploding wine bottles and lots of vigilantekata. There's even a
nod to CHINATOWN for the completely brain dead members of the viewing public. Poor Kay Lenz, though. Her role
as "The Girlfriend" amounts to about 20 minutes in the first reel
and then she disappears until she's needed for "The Climactic
Shootout." Truly a shame, especially since she was still a fabulous babe
when this flick was made and she makes for a nice visual distraction from ol'
Chuck (see the underrated STRIPPED TO KILL for further proof). CRACKDOWN's cinematic highlights
include an EMPIRE STRIKES BACK-esque dream sequence and the
by-the-books-Bronson turn that pretty much defined the man's work in the 80s.
Whether he's in the PG-rated action/romance ASSASSINATION (another underrated
flick from his Cannon days) or the creepy killer-on-the-loose 10 TO MIDNIGHT
(also with Thompson), it's almost the exact same performance. However, you gotta admire the
man's staying power – seven years after CRACKDOWN he saddled up one last time
to play the role of Paul Kersey in DEATH WISH V: THE FACE OF DEATH with
Lesley Anne-Down and Michael Parks. Taken from http://www.dantenet.com/er/ERchives/reviews/d_reviews/dw4.html Copyright © 2007 Dan Taylor |
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