Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

I'll admit, despite my love for the series as I explored them all for the very first time within this past year, I was a little weary going into this one for a number of reasons. First of all, that cover is just awful. It looks like a Made-for-TV movie. It's also not an entry in the decades long franchise that anyone ever mentions. At least, not in my experience. But I needed to finish the franchise, even if I wasn't particularly all that excited about this one.Truthfully, it took a good 30 minutes for me to really get into it. Much like the cover art, it has a very Made-for-TV quality about it. Yet it's not a bad looking film. Writer/director Allan A. Goldstein does give the film an overall nice look, despite the film looking limited to an extent. But still, he's an odd choice for something like this, especially when you look at all the previous entries. Nothing in Goldstein's past filmography would lead you to believe he could deliver a solid Death Wish film. Nothing. My guess is Menaham Golan got him cheap. So I was kind of thrown off with that for a bit, but I'm glad I stuck it through because the film only got better and better as it moved along. In fact, simply based on how the film looked and started right off the bat, I was not at all expecting it to go where it ultimately did in terms of the action and violence.Poor Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson). The guy just cannot catch a break. It doesn't matter where he moves, or how many years have passed since the last catastrophe, he just seems to attract trouble and torment. It's like it's never far behind, always just waiting in the wings for the absolute worst moment to strike, and it always does. Essentially, that's what the Death Wish films feed off of, and it's what makes them the films they are. But seriously, how much can one man take before he loses his mind? Thankfully that hasn't happened yet, and whenever tragedy strikes, Kersey shifts into revenge mode to deliver some vigilante justice, but you'd think that by now he would just stop dating altogether. I mean, every single woman in his life, whether it be a family member or love interest, dies simply because they are a woman in a Death Wish film. That's just the formula Michael Winner began with in the first film, and carried on into the second, and it's a formula the series has continued even going into this one. Now that I think about it, I can't recall a woman close to him dying in Part 3, but I could be wrong. And the kills. Oh the kills! When they finally do come into play, they're pretty spectacular. I'll just leave it at that.The cast is pretty solid, but aside from Bronson returning, the only real standout is the casting of Michael Parks as the main villain, who does a formidable job in the role as a slimy, cantankerous businessman who runs his businesses like the mob. Speaking of casting, Bronson was 72 when he made this, which just blows my mind. The guy doesn't look a day over 60 and age has not slowed him down one bit.So the film itself turned out to be a lot better than I anticipated. It takes a bit to get used to it's particular TV atmosphere, but that doesn't really last long because soon enough, it begins to slowly resemble the kind of film you were looking forward to right from the start. There's really nothing about the story that set's it apart from any of the other previous entries; the woman he loves is killed, so he goes out for revenge. Same ol' story. Though it has a lower body count than most of the other films, it's the way and manner that these sorry sons of bitches are killed that kind of blew me away. There may be less killing, but it's pretty brutal all the same. I also have to give credit to Allan A. Goldstein, the director. When the action kicked in, the film took on a whole new life and it was awesome. Whether it be a chase, shootout, fist fight or execution, the film kind of shifts gears and I kind of wish there was more violence because the film was so much better when there was. I really dig it. It's almost as if the film was directed by 2 different people, and for all I know, maybe the 2nd unit or assistant director's had something to do with that. In either case, you can bet your ass that when it comes to the "revenge" aspect to the film, Death Wish V: The Face of Death does in fact deliver the goods in a big way.Despite all my praises, because it is indeed a highly enjoyable film and better than I was expecting, it doesn't come off as one of the best in the series. In fact, taking into consideration that they're all pretty great each in their own very specific way, this would easily be the weakest in the series. But rest assured, that doesn't make it a bad film in any way. If there's anything Death Wish V proves, it's that it has a lot of things stacked against it right from the get-go, yet ultimately prevails despite it's numerous obstacles. It caught me off guard in a good way, and while it might not be the best entry in the franchise, it's vastly superior to a lot of the paint-by-numbers copycats that were prominent in this genre on both the big and little screen. It's a great film, you just have to give it a chance.www.robotGEEKSCultCinema.blogspot.com

Extremely violent follow-up to the successful 1974 movie based on the characters written by Brian Garfield , whose novel the picture is based on . Last entry in the original five film series in which Kersey takes the law on his own hands , searching for vengeance against mobsters when his girlfriend is victimized again . The five-times-weary urban vigilant hits gangsters , this time , hard . Death Wish : The face of death¨(1994) that would be the last and it was then not made for about another seven years , being starred by with Leslie Anne Down , Michael Parks , Chuck Shamata , Saul Rubinek and Miguel Sandoval . Sequel to successful crime thriller that created the Vigilante genre with Bronson as the main star as architect Paul Kersey (wooding acting by Bronson who looks bored and tired with this rehash material) turned the one-man vigilante when his sweetheart , a clothing manufacturer (Leslie Anne Down) , has her business threatened , being attacked by mobsters , one of whom turns out to be her sadistic ex (Michael Parks) and a hired killer (Robert Joy) hitting her on a mirror . This fifth entry with excessive violence concerns about Paul Kersey , an ageing architect who becomes again into vigilante and wiping out the band of mobsters . The main amusement results to be to guess the kinds of deaths that Bronson executes against the villains , as he carries out retribution and vendetta . This 5º outing from the novel ¨Death wish¨ by Brian Garfield in which an architect taking the law into his own revengeful hands and acting as judge , jury and executioner . It contains suspense, noisy action-packed , intrigue , thrills and lots of violence . Initial excitement at the welter of violence son palls into boredom , only intermittently relieved by the preposterousness . Mediocre screenplay manages a couple of nice twists , but it's too formulary to pursue the ambiguities it reveals . Here filmmaker emphasising a hostile , nightmare terrain and relying his virtually sympathies with the confused , violent Paul Kersey . Bronson with his usual stoic acting displays efficiently his weapons such as ¨Harry the Dirty¨ and killing mercilessly nasties . Screenwriter re-wrote the entire script while filming but Charles Bronson constantly had problems with the dialog . It's certainly thrilling , though the morality may be questionable , even in this time, as the spectators were clearly on the Kersey-Bronson's side . Furthermore , it benefits from some good support actors , as here appears a nice secondary cast , such as : Chuck Shamata , Michael Parks , Saul Rubinek , Miguel Sandoval , Kenneth Welsh , among others . It packs a screeching musical score composed, orchestrated and performed by Terry Plumeri . The studio, Cannon : Yoram Globus, Menahem and Damián Lee produced this one in enough budget . The motion picture was poorly directed by Allan Goldstein (2001 a space travesty , When Justice Fails , Home team , Jungle boy , Chain dance , Private lessons) . The original film ¨Death wish¨ had great commercial hit , it was followed by various extremely violent sequels to this successful 1974 movie , that's , of course , the best from the series , being starred by Hope Lange , Stuart Margolin , William Redfield and Jeff Goldblum . This first big hit motion picture was middling directed by Michael Winner such as the successive films with his main star, Charles Bronson , usually giving wooden performance . In the mid-70 Winner , in need to other hit smashes attempted with the sequels , but both , Bronson and Winner , looked increasingly passionless and mechanical in the later years of their partnership in this cheap as well as worn-out final series . The worst sequels in which Kersey goes on to torture robbers , all of them inferior and the violence could be deemed exaggerated , they are the followings : ¨Death wish II¨ by Michael Winner with Jill Ireland , Anthony Franciosa , JD Cannon and Vincent Gardenia , ¨Death Wish III¨ by Winner with Ed Lauter , Martin Balsam , Gavan O'Herlihy and Deborah Raffin . However , Michael Winner showed no interest in directing Death Wish 4 because he had heard that Charles Bronson had a terrible experience filming Death Wish III (1985). Following ¨Death Wish 4 : The crackdown¨(1987) with Kay Lenz , John P Ryan , Perry López , Soon-Teck-Oh directed by J.Lee Thompson . In addition , an intended but unfilmed sixth movie was also to have a subtitle: 'Death Wish 6: The New Vigilante'.

Is this the guy who heads the American Gun Club or whatever? Or is that Charlton Heston. I find it hard to tell those kinds of people apart.Anyway, the movie was a bubbling pile of badly-produced compost, although it did make me laugh in a few places. The star (what was his name again?) reminded me of Charlie Chan after a detectives' party. Or maybe someone from a 2008 remake of Star Trek using the original cast. He did have a nice thick coat, though, which must have got a bit crumpled when he was driving.The guns in the movie made me chuckle, with their bursty-flamey-spurty blue flashes. I love Quake.Still, give it another 10-20 years and it will become a cult comedy.BTW, I didn't think his bird had come out too badly after the mirror episode. A few scratches? Big deal. (But then, it didn't really matter for very long.) I've shagged worse.

This time Leslie Anne Down receives a death sentence by becoming involved romantically with architect professor Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson, more than a bit long in the tooth by this point; it was 1994, not 1983 any longer). Down is a fashion designer,named Olivia, once married to Michael Parks' ruthless criminal kingpin. Parks is Tommy O'Shea, his corrupt tentacles spreading throughout all of LA, from prostitution to drugs. He will not allow Olivia to become successful, not too happy that she gained full custody of their daughter. Tommy has Robert Joy's sadistic Freddie do his dirty work, eventually shooting Olivia in the back, with an attempt on Kersey's life as well. No surprise regarding Olivia's fate if you are familiar with the Death Wish franchise. Not to be denied, Olivia not only is shot in the back while trying to escape through a fire escape (after her face was smashed into a mirror by Freddie in drag in a restaurant women's restroom), but she plummets off the roof in slow motion to the top of a another apartment. Look, even by Part 5, the Death Wish series wasn't about to let the women off lightly; particularly, the women in Kersey's life. So Tommy will go after custody of his daughter, Chelsea, despite the fact that he sent Freddie to take out his ex-wife. Kenneth Welsh's exhausted detective loses a partner and witnesses who could finger Tommy for money laundering. So anyone involved with taking Tommy down through the law wind up on the losing end…option B is open and that consists of Kersey going Grandpa Vigilante. Parks' ass is grass. Look, Parks can play the scumbag with such comfort and ease; if you don't want him dead by the time Kersey gets his gun from the safe, then you're a sociopath. That's the whole point of this movie. The criminals are so loathsome and brutish, with a ringleader totally coldblooded and absent a conscience, that Kersey's revenge seems justified. Dwelling on how Kersey rids us of these cretins is of little consequence when Parks has his men use cars as battering rams, a pressing machine to torture, a sewing machine to cut into a stomach, and guns to shoot people in the back. Worse yet, Parks does in fact get custody of his daughter (much to her dismay and disgust), and turns Olivia's fashion company into a tawdry lingerie line. Oh, and there's a supposed friend of Kersey's who is actually dirty and taking money from Tommy to rid the crimelord of the vigilante nuisance. It is all about stacking the deck, of course. How on earth will Kersey not only get vengeance but escape all these people out to get him? Well, one thing's for certain: Kersey is good at killing. If you cross him, get on his bad side, and harm those he loves prepare to die. Parks is so smug, I can only imagine those watching this movie will be waiting with bated breath to see Bronson execute him. Robert Joy is so adept at playing creeps; he may have found a home on CSI: NY, but Joy's made a living playing human vermin. How Bronson uses a "remote control soccer ball" to get even with Joy has to be seen to be believed…it's kind of awesome actually (think of a human inferno). Look, this suffers from the "going to the well one too many times". The last Death Wish (part 4) had been back in '87. By '94, this kind of vigilante action was dying, if not about extinct. That's not to say Parks wasn't game; he's got the goods for portraying a mean bastard who goes after what he wants, and f-all to the collateral damage and bodies left behind. After all Tommy does, we do get the pleasure of seeing each member of his entourage's funeral (those responsible for Olivia's death) when Kersey dispatches them. It all plays out in Olivia's clothing factory/company, with hired gunmen equipped with firepower, as Tommy and his remaining henchman, Sal, holding Chelsea hostage in a room upstairs, await word that Kersey is dead. With use of a cellophane machine, forklift, electrical equipment (sending out sparks and high voltage), and, too cool to leave out, an acid bath, Kersey, only a pistol in hand, will not be denied his chance to capitalize on his vendetta. Parks gets his just desserts in grand fashion. Nothing great (even The Crackdown was better) to speak of, and Bronson, even though he aged extremely well, had too kindly of a face by this time in his career and life to really convince as a one-man army. Still bad-ass geriatric vigilante does kind of have a nice ring to it. But, taking this seriously at all, I doubt many could really accept Bronson in the twilight of his career as walking ammunition. I love the guy, don't get me wrong, but I think he should have laid this part to rest after the awesomeness that was Death Wish III.