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 an even more flawed film than 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.