Death Wish II (1982)

Preceded by: Death Wish (1974)
Succeeded by: Death Wish 3 (1985)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Paul Kersey	Charles Bronson	½
Geri Nichols	Jill Ireland
Frank Ochoa	Vincent Gardenia
New York District Attorney	J.D. Cannon
Herman Baldwin	Anthony Franciosa
Carol Kersey	Robin Sherwood
Cutter	Laurence Fishburne III	½
Donald Kay	Charles Cyphers
Lt. Mankewicz	Ben Frank
Elliot Cass	Michael Prince
Charles Wilson / Nirvana	Thomas F. Duffy
Stomper	Kevyn Major Howard	½

Review

Wooden acting, a blatantly biased political agenda, and a series of corny cuts and compositions (especially a number of flashbacks) make this sequel to Death Wish a flawed copycat of the original. And to make things even more ludicrous, Paul Kersey suddenly finds himself bereaved of his loved ones once again – in the most brutal, senseless (and constructed) manner, by a crowd acting and looking like rabid dancers from a contemporary Michael Jackson music video. Needless to say, there aren't any real humans in this story, but the production team of Winner/Globus/Golan don't seem to need any, as long as they've got a handful of shootouts lined up. These offer real blood and some spastic dying, and after a while, the film's drive does get you somewhat caught up in Paul Kersey's one-eye worldview. If in the end you want all those punks dead, I guess you can say the film has succeeded. The abrasive score is by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.