MGM Home Entertainment,
with sales and distribution support provided by 20th Century-Fox
Home Entertainment, has circled June 5 on their home entertainment release
calendar for the delivery of DVD and Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack editions of
director Eli Roth’s remake of the 1974 Charles Bronson urban vigilante
thriller, Death Wish.
The ARR is 95 days and
domestic box office revenues were a lackluster $33.9 million … despite an
ending that leaves open a sequel, don’t expect Death Wish 2 anytime
soon.
Bruce Willis stars as
“Doctor” Paul Kersey, who lives and works in Chicago — Bronson was an architect
(and in Brian Garfield’s 1972 novel, the New York City vigilante was an
accountant). Willis, like Bronson
before him, becomes a self-appointed crime fighter when his wife (played by Elisabeth
Shue) is murdered and his daughter, Jordan (Camila Morrone) ends up in the
hospital.
Dubbed the “Grim Reaper”
by the media, he is stalked by Detective Kevin Raines (Dean Norris), who
discovers the truth by film’s end, but lets Kersey skate free … a gang of
vicious thugs found justice and so the books are closed.
Death Wish is a perfectly fine Bruce Willis action
film. The success of the first film in
1974 mirrored a public frustrated with the violence in New York City and the
need for a gun-totting “social justice” warrior.
If filmmaker Eli Roth
wanted to mirror today’s violence of Chicago, Willis’ character would be black,
a small business owner, terrorized on a daily basis by gang violence … the
death of his wife and attack upon his daughter would be a last-straw,
nothing-to-lose reaction. But then,
we’d have an entirely different movie.
Bonus features include
commentary by director Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever, etc.), who is
joined by producer Roger Birnbaum (who is into remakes … The Magnificent Seven, Footloose,
RoboCop, etc.), deleted (with commentary) and extended scenes and the
featurette titled, “Vengeance and Vision: Directing Death Wish.”
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