Vigilante goes to the top of the drug business In 1987, the fourth part of the franchise “Death Thirst” was released, shot in the genre of a criminal thriller. And in this film there were some noticeable changes, which are worth mentioning and collectively express your subjective opinion about everything you saw, after which the average rating of the film will appear along with the corresponding color of the review. Already based on the name, you can note that only in the fourth part there was a subtitle, and before that the creators were limited only to the addition of a number. And this subtitle in the official version was the word "Punishment", and in the translation on pirated videos, the word "Defeat" occurs. Honestly, in this way, many people try to intrigue the viewer, while giving free rein to his imagination, so that he thinks a little about his plot. In "Punishment" or "Defeat" contains only an intriguing sonorous word, but this does not give a characteristic of the plot, especially when you already see the film.
More attention was drawn to the fact of the change of the main director-director. Until now, all three parts of “Death Wish” were shot under the direction of Englishman Michael Winner and these films were the fourth, fifth and, accordingly, the sixth in the joint work of Winner with actor Charles Bronson, who again participated in all parts of the franchise, but unlike the director Bronson remained to shoot further. Winner was replaced by another Englishman, J. Lee Thompson. Now the name of this director is unfairly forgotten, and after all, this is the man who made famous films in the 60s and 70s, such as “Cape of Fear”, “Cape of Fear” and “McKenna’s Gold”, where Gregory Peck played everywhere, plus Thompson directed two films for the franchise “Planet of the Apes”. I will say that this shift did not affect the overall balance in “Death Thirst”. The bet was made on all the same: the brutal texture of the main character and his sharp eye and a firm hand clutching the gun, and the experience and understanding of it when he goes out once again to shoot various villains.
For the creation of a new script, a new person again took up (all parts of the pentalogy “Death Thirst” were written by different people who were guided by the characters of writer Brian Garfield). And it was not the most famous screenwriter Gail Morgan Hickman. According to his plan, he famously and even riskyly changed the concept of “Deathlust”. In all previous parts, the viewer got used to the fact that the main character becomes on the path of a murderer only because in this way he found the strength to continue living, he took the right to be a judge and no one will condemn him for this, because the police are inactive. In Punishment, Paul Kersey (the name of the hero Charles Bronson) is no longer a lone vigilante, but a real mercenary. There are, of course, factors that influenced this choice of Paul Kersey, nicknamed Vigilante, and a peaceful person, a law-abiding citizen, will understand and even support Kersey’s actions and decisions, but still we are more used to the fact that he is a night hunter, and then he becomes a puppet. Well, at least that he considered the main antagonist of the picture. Someone will like such a change, someone will not, and if to speak subjectively, then thank you at least for trying to update something in the conveyor franchise.
But somehow with such a condition, according to the plan of the screenwriter, for some reason, the image that Charles Bronson exploited so successfully before the “Punishment” dwindled and grew old. It is possible that this was influenced by the fatal illness of Bronson’s wife Jill Ireland, who starred with him in the second film “Death Wish”. However, this was not advertised, so the ignorant viewer still noticed that Bronson gradually began to give up positions and this is not the Vigilante, who had a look like a brutal man and from such mercy did not have to wait. But still not all the time willingly pull the trigger every time, ending the lives of criminals operating on the night streets, it would be necessary for Vigilante to take care of the receiver. In addition to Bronson, John P. Ryan draws attention to himself with his play, but, in fact, this is only because he had a very well-registered character, the screenwriter nevertheless worked carefully on him. Kay Lenz was beautiful and stylish for that era, but she was not destined to play at least at the level of Bronson. Well, pay attention to the fact that here in the episodes there are Danny Trejo, Mark Pellegrino and Mitch Pileggi, who later became known for the role of FBI Assistant Director Walter Skinner in the series “The X-Files”.
Well, gradually, as is often the case, the franchise began to come into disrepair. Of course, it is worth praising the director of “Punishment” J. Lee Thompson and screenwriter Gail Morgan Hickman for wanting to breathe new life into the franchise, but, unfortunately, Charles Bronson himself is probably tired of this role. The viewer is still well received by his character Paul Kersey, a talented architect who embarked on a path of revenge, killing criminals, and now he even reached the big bosses of the mafia in this part of the franchise, but it is noticeable that without young blood, “Deathlust” was very few, so everyone was enough for another film and it was over and probably right.
6 out of 10