Death Wish 3 (1985)

Usually by the time you hit movie number three the shine has generally started to wear off. Well, not all the time as there are a number of franchises that managed to last well beyond the third film, but in the case of Death Wish I'm not really sure if we can put that into that category. Okay, there are actually five in the series, but it seems that what we have here is basically the law of diminishing returns, and the returns from this particular franchise really seem to be diminishing. So, we have Paul Kersey returning to New York (though for some reason they are calling him Kimble for a while, though I am not really sure why) after ten years, and I suspect it is to assist an old war buddy. Well, it appears that a gang has decided to set up shop and to terrorise the neighbourhood, and the police really don't seem to be able to do much about it. In particular the leader seems to be untouchable. So, why not bring in the vigilante to solve the problem. It seems that the series is getting more and more unrealistic as time goes on. Sure, while I haven't seen the first one, from what I have read about it I have a good idea as to what went on. Now we have Kersey coming in as a superhero, who is also armed to the teeth, solving a problem that the police have no power to do. This really doesn't seem to be the way of dealing with vigilantism. It is sort of like the whole making gamblers appear to be really successful when in reality the whole system relies upon luck type of movie. In the same manner we are turning vigilantes into superheroes who have access to military grade equipment. I'm still not all that sure if soldiers would have been able to bring heavy machine guns back from a war zone and stash them in their apartments just in case they may come in handy (as well as a couple of belts of ammunition). In a way these films seem to elevate vigilantes much higher than they really are, particularly since many of them aren't combat trained and generally act out of anger and frustration (which rarely, if ever, works). Honestly, I probably wouldn't recommend the film, and I'm not all that sure why it is I even watched it. While it may be entertaining, there are much better films out there that are much more worth watching than this one. I'm not even sure if I'm going to watch any more, though a part of me is actually tempted to.

While Death Wish 1 and 2 were reasonable movies with charme, Death Wish 3 is totally NUTS. Logic is annihilated in this movie. There is an extreme bodycount and the whole movie is about civil war. Charles Bronson was never an actor with big emotions but in this movie.. his girlfriend gets killed one minute after he gets out the car where she is inside and then watches the car burn down in a scene that lasts for 5 seconds. Also the car rolled 20 meters and crashed in another car and both car explode instantly ???! The event never got mentioned again in the whole movie and you don't see him grief or anything like that.And the amount of bullets that don't hit people even if they stay right in front of firepower is ridiculous. And what about the motives of the extreme stupid behaviour of the gang members? Nothing gets explained why they start a civil war at all. The leader just always says "He is in my territory". Fine okay but what are the motivation for 600 (literally bodycount!) punks to follow his orders? At the end of the movie the city block felt like a setpiece out of "Escape from NY". But it's still a movie i would recommend watching with other people to laugh about. As other reviewers stated: If you watch the movie as a comedy piece it's very entertaining. I watched the first two movies before and expected something a bit more serious, maybe that's why my rating is so low.

Death Wish 3 (1985) *** (out of 4)Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is on a bus heading to visit a friend in New York City but once he gets there he finds the friend dead. It turns out that the neighborhood has been taken over by a gang of ruthless murdering thugs so to protect the building his friend lived in Kersey straps the guns back on and prepares for battle.DEATH WISH 3 has become one of the biggest cult action films of the decade and it's very easy to see why because you're not going to find a more over-the-top or insane picture. The final twenty or so minutes of this picture contains some of the wackiest and most outrageous action scenes that you'll ever witness so it's easy to watch them while drinking a beer and cheering along.What's always been so shocking to me about this series is how drastically different the films are from one another. The first film was a very dark and disturbing picture that asked political and social questions about killing. The second picture was a downright cheap exploitation movie. This third film seems like an out of control video game where Bronson is just given a wide range of weapons and we see him use them against some of the craziest group of villains that you'll ever see.DEATH WISH 3 is certainly a very weird movie but it's also a very entertaining one. Again, the main reason to watch this film is just to see Bronson back in action. I know he said in several interviews that he hated this picture but it really does look as if he's having fun. He's given some creative ways to kill people and there's even some humor thrown in from various traps that he sets up. Again, the real highlight comes in the final action sequence where an entire town gets blown up. This final sequence ranks as one of the wildest in cinema history.As I said, I think Bronson is in fine form here but we also get nice supporting performances from Martin Balsam, Ed Lauter, Deborah Raffin and Gavan O'Herlihy. Michael Winner does a good job at not taking anything too serious and he certainly manages to deliver a fast and loose picture. Again, it's rather shocking to see how different this film is compared to the previous two but DEATH WISH 3 deserves credit for trying something different.

Death Wish 3 (1985) 92 minutes 18 - for graphic violence and a sexual scene Plot - Architect/vigilante Paul Kersey arrives back in New York City and is forcibly recruited by a crooked police detective to fight street crime caused by a large gang terrorizing the neighbourhood's. I think I can almost stop right there when discussing this film whichis a definitive improvement over the previous film death wish 2 which exploitative garbage at its worst this isn't a great movie either but there's a lot more depth to the story and generally serviceable performances buy the cast especially Charles Bronson who is suitably adequate as the title character Paul kersey and Ed lauther as a grumpy no-nonsense police officer who assists kersey in battling the street gang who lead by suitably terrifying maniac played by Gavan O'Herlihy as manny Faker and preposterous but fun choreographed action scenes especially the heart wrenching finale which left me on the very edge of my seat until the very end . so overall if you were put off by the rancid sequel that was death wish 2 give it a chance its a no brainier picture to be sure but its a fun and entertaining way to spend 90 minutes .