Synopsis
A mild-mannered father is transformed into a killing machine after his family is torn apart by a violent act.
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Cast
- Bruce WillisPaul Kersey
- Vincent D'OnofrioFrank Kersey
- Dean NorrisDetective Rains
- Elisabeth ShueLucy Kersey
- Camila MorroneJordan Kersey
- Beau KnappKnox
- Kimberly EliseDetective Jackson
- Len CariouBen
- Jack KesyThe Fish
- Ronnie Gene BlevinsJoe
Recommendations
- 50
Philadelphia Daily News
A wishy-washy exploitation movie, which doesn’t show any real verve until the climax. - 50
IndieWire
Although he races through the occasional blasts of gritty action, Roth slows things down whenever Paul corners one of the people who killed his wife, the director sinking his teeth into long torture sequences or terse dialogue scenes that are punctuated with shocking flashes of gore. - 50
Entertainment Weekly
Eli Roth’s Death Wish isn’t a bad movie as far as super-violent exploitation flicks go. But it is a deeply problematic one. And that problem boils down to this: It’s the absolute wrong movie at the absolute wrong time. - 40
New York Daily News
But the real problem is that the picture feels padded. There are endless, and pointless, scenes of radio hosts debating the vigilante violence. And the wildly mismatched shoot-outs — every criminal Kersey goes up against is slow, stupid and a lousy shot — waters down the thrills. - 30
TheWrap
As soon as Willis deploys his trademark smirk, and the comfortable vengeance of tracking down his wife’s killers while avoiding detection takes over, it just becomes a million other B-movies about lowlifes getting what they deserve. - 30
IGN
Death Wish takes the serious topic of vigilante violence and reduces it to melodramatic hero worship, and it’s not even particularly good at that. The action is forgettable and the plot barely holds together. - 30
Los Angeles Times
Directed by Eli Roth with the same knowing smirk that has informed his previous exercises in self-satisfied bloodletting ("Cabin Fever," "The Green Inferno," the "Hostel" movies), the movie is a slick, straightforward revenge thriller as well as a sham provocation, pandering shamelessly to the viewer's bloodlust while trying to pass as self-aware satire. Your time, to say nothing of your outrage, is much better spent elsewhere. - 30
The Hollywood Reporter
Eli Roth and screenwriter Joe Carnahan could have done the same thing, manifesting the rages and fears that afflict the country we live in right now. Instead they offer a cheap and dishonest Death Wish that (references to social media notwithstanding) is interchangeable with get-tough knockoffs that have flooded cinemas for decades.
